Switch terminal system with third party access

ABSTRACT

A system is provided for controlling a first switch terminal of a building occupied by one or more building occupant. The system includes a plurality of switch terminals at the building. A first computer system is coupled to the first switch terminal or equivalent of the building at a first location of the building. The first computer system runs on at least one platform. A first plurality of sensors is coupled to the first switch terminal and the first computer system. At least a portion of the sensors provide signal data to the first computer system. The first computer system produces a command or data output that relates to at least one of: a command output for a local control system, a command output for a different system, a data output for a different system, a command output for a non-local device or a data output that is a non-local device. A second switch terminal includes a second plurality of sensors coupled to a second computer system. The system is configured to be coupled with an imaging module at the dwelling. In response to authorization by at least one building occupant the sensing module is configured to provide third party access to at least a portion of the building.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority benefit of all of the following:which is a Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 16/004,341, filed on Jun. 8,2018, which is a Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 16/003,142, filed onJun. 8, 2018, which is a Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 15/940,978,filed on Mar. 30, 2018, which is a Continuation-In-Part of Ser. No.15/933,611, filed on Mar. 24, 2018, which is a Continuation of Ser. No.15/924,177, filed on Mar. 17, 2018, which is a Continuation of U.S. Pat.No. 10,146,191, issued on Dec. 4, 2018, which is a Continuation-In-Partof Ser. No. 15/838,371, filed on Dec. 12, 2017, which is a Continuationof Ser. No. 15/835,471, filed on Dec. 8, 2017, which is a Continuationof Ser. No. 15/835,460, filed on Dec. 8, 2017, which is a Continuationof Ser. No. 15/822,109, filed on Nov. 24, 2017, which is aContinuation-In-Part of Ser. No. 15/817,318, filed on Nov. 20, 2017,which is a Continuation of Ser. No. 15/815,729, filed on Nov. 17, 2017,a Continuation of Ser. No. 15/788,823, filed on Oct. 20, 2017, which isa continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 10,241,477, issued on Mar. 26,2019, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 10,067,484,issued on Sep. 4, 2018, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No.15/681,351, filed on Aug. 19, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part ofSer. No. 15/681,343, filed on Aug. 19, 2017, which is acontinuation-in-part of Ser. No. 15/649,683, filed on Jul. 14, 2017,which is a continuation of Ser. No. 15/649,672, filed on Jul. 14, 2017,which is a continuation of Ser. No. 15/649,669 filed on Jul. 14, 2017,which is a U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/416,281, filed onNov. 2, 2016, which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to adaptive control systems for abuilding and more particularly to adaptive control systems that providethird party access.

Brief Description of the Related Art

Electronic control over complex systems has been limited primarily toindustrial applications, and occasionally commercial applications. Suchelectronic control systems usually required extensive and costlyequipment, as well as technically trained operators.

However, as consumer products and systems become more and more complex,untrained people in home environments have been increasingly desirous ofobtaining a sophisticated electronic control system for enabling an easyto use control over such home products and systems. Many such productsand systems are also increasingly being used in commercial environments,such as electronic conference rooms, in which it is also desirable toprovide an easy to use control system for use by individuals who areoften not skilled in technological arts.

Many building automation systems are generally built around a smallcontrol box which is connected by means of existing household AC wiring,to one or more modules distributed throughout the home. The appliancesand/or lights to be controlled are in turn connected to the modules andmay thus be controlled from the control console by the homeowner. Themain advantage of such “power-line carrier” home control systems is thatthey are low in cost and utilize existing home wiring. However, suchpower-line carrier control systems can be easily disrupted by internalcircuitry or outside environmental electrical disturbances, such asweather conditions. In addition, such systems allow the control of onlya relatively limited number of types of electrical appliances, namely,lights and small electrical appliances. They do not, however, allow forany sophisticated platforming functions other than perhaps a time on andtime off feature. This provides power-line carrier control systems areof relatively limited utility for building automation purposes.

More sophisticated building automation systems are generally builtaround a platform able microprocessor connected to a local bus whichaccepts a limited number of input/output control cards. Such systems mayallow the connection of building occupant control devices such as akeypad or a touchscreen for inputting control commands to the homeautomation system. However, such systems have a predetermined limitednumber of how many devices and building occupant interfaces the systemcan support.

There is a need for systems with controlled third party access todwellings.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to an activityassistant.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to a an activityassistant that is responsive to a user command.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to an activityassistant that is responsive to a user command which is a voice command.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to an activityassistant responsive that is responsive to a user command which is auser text.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to an activityassistant where the activity assistant is configured to process a usercommand.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to an activityassistant where a user command is a data construct describing a thing todo.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system forcontrolling one or more switch terminals of a building occupied by oneor more building occupants that includes or is coupled to a activityassistant where a command describes an activity.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in asystem for controlling a first switch terminal of a building occupied byone or more building occupants. The system includes a plurality ofswitch terminals at the building. A first computer system is coupled tothe first switch terminal or equivalent of the building at a firstlocation of the building. The first computer system runs on at least oneplatform. A first plurality of sensors is coupled to the first switchterminal and the first computer system. At least a portion of thesensors provide signal data to the first computer system. The firstcomputer system produces a command or data output that relates to atleast one of: a command output for a local control system, a commandoutput for a different system, a data output for a different system, acommand output for a non-local device or a data output that is anon-local device. A second switch terminal includes a second pluralityof sensors coupled to a second computer system. An activity assistant iscoupled to the system for controlling a first switch terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a building adaptive control systemof the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a switch terminal that can be usedwith the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a power management system that canbe used with the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of an integrated computing device thatcan be used with the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a mesh network that can be usedwith the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a central light decision enginethat can be used with the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of an adaptive network that includestwo or more switch terminals.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a machine intelligence system thatcan be used with the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of an NTB algorithm that can be usedwith the present invention.

FIGS. 10A-E illustrate one embodiment of a cloud infrastructure that canbe used with the present invention.

FIGS. 11-13 illustrate one embodiment of mobile devices that can be usedwith the present invention.

FIGS. 14-15 illustrate various embodiments of a dual band slot antennathat can be used with the present invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates one embodiment of a switch terminal where there isno specific no specific configuration of the wiring terminals to aspecific wiring element/circuit.

FIG. 17 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention with wiringterminals coupled to wiring elements of a switch terminal.

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of a motion detection sensor that isused with the present invention

FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention with stubwiring terminals coupled to wiring elements of a switch terminal with alocking mechanism.

FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention whereknowledge is obtained of how the sensors relate to each other.

FIGS. 21A-E illustrate one embodiment of the present invention where oneor more switch terminals include a front module, a radio module, a powermodule, locking mechanism and a switch terminal back cover.

FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment of a voice recognition system foridentifying voice commands.

FIG. 23 shows a data entry system able to perform speech recognition ondata received from remote audio or text entering devices according toone implementation.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of a search server using a speechrecognition system to identify, update and distribute information for adata entry dictionary according to one implementation.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing exemplary steps for adding data to aspeech recognition statistical model.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing exemplary steps for adding data to apronunciation model.

FIG. 27 depicts a network in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 28A is a block diagram of a computing device in accordance with anexample embodiment.

FIG. 28B depicts a network with computing clusters in accordance with anexample embodiment.

FIG. 29A is a block diagram illustrating features of a user interface,according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 29B is another block diagram illustrating features of a userinterface, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 30 is flow chart illustrating a method according to an exampleembodiment.

FIGS. 31 and 32 illustrate embodiments of the present invention withthird party access.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Definitions

As used herein, the term engine refers to software, firmware, hardware,or other component that can be used to effectuate a purpose. The enginewill typically include software instructions that are stored innon-volatile memory (also referred to as secondary memory) and aprocessor with instructions to execute the software. When the softwareinstructions are executed, at least a subset of the softwareinstructions can be loaded into memory (also referred to as primarymemory) by a processor. The processor then executes the softwareinstructions in memory. The processor may be a shared processor, adedicated processor, or a combination of shared or dedicated processors.A typical platform will include calls to hardware components (such asI/O devices), which typically requires the execution of drivers. Thedrivers may or may not be considered part of the engine, but thedistinction is not critical. As used herein, the term database is usedbroadly to include any known or convenient means for storing data,whether centralized or distributed, relational or otherwise.

As used herein a mobile devices include, but are not limited to, a cellphone, such as Apple's iPhone®, other portable electronic devices, suchas Apple's iPod Touches®. Apple's iPads®, and mobile devices based onGoogle's Android® operating system, and any other portable electronicdevice that includes software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationthereof that is capable of at least receiving a wireless signal,decoding if needed, and exchanging information with a server to send andreceive cultural information data including survey data. Typicalcomponents of mobile devices may include but are not limited topersistent memories like flash ROM, random access memory like SRAM, acamera, a battery. LCD driver, a display, a cellular antenna, a speaker,a BLUETOOTH® circuit, and WIFI circuitry, where the persistent memorymay contain platforms, applications, and/or an operating system for themobile devices.

As used herein, the term “computing device” is a general purpose devicethat can be platformed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic orlogical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readilychanged, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem. Acomputer can include of at least one processing element, typically acentral processing unit (CPU) and some form of memory. The processingelement carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencingand control unit that can change the order of operations based on storedinformation. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved froman external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved.Computer also includes a graphic display medium.

As used herein, the term “Internet” is a global system of interconnectedcomputer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP)to serve billions of building occupants worldwide. It is a network ofnetworks that consists of millions of private, public, academic,business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that arelinked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networkingtechnologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of informationresources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents ofthe World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. Thecommunications infrastructure of the Internet consists of its hardwarecomponents and a system of software layers that control various aspectsof the architecture.

As used herein, the term “extranet” is a computer network that allowscontrolled access from the outside. An extranet can be an extension ofan organization's intranet that is extended to building occupantsoutside the organization in isolation from all other Internet buildingoccupants. An extranet can be an intranet mapped onto the publicInternet or some other transmission system not accessible to the generalpublic, but managed by more than one company's administrator(s).Examples of extranet-style networks include but are not limited to: LANsor WANs belonging to multiple organizations and interconnected andaccessed using remote dial-up LANs or WANs belonging to multipleorganizations and interconnected and accessed using dedicated linesVirtual private network (VPN) that is comprised of LANs or WANsbelonging to multiple organizations, and that extends usage to remotebuilding occupants using special “tunneling” software that creates asecure, usually encrypted network connection over public lines,sometimes via an ISP.

As used herein, the term “Intranet” is a network that is owned by asingle organization that controls its security policies and networkmanagement. Examples of intranets include but are not limited to: A LANA Wide-area network (WAN) that is comprised of a LAN that extends usageto remote employees with dial-up access A WAN that is comprised ofinterconnected LANs using dedicated communication lines A Virtualprivate network (VPN) that is comprised of a LAN or WAN that extendsusage to remote employees or networks using special “tunneling” softwarethat creates a secure, usually encrypted connection over public lines,sometimes via an Internet Service Provider (ISP). For purposes of thepresent invention, the Internet, extranets and intranets collectivelyare referred to as (“Network Systems”).

As used herein “load management” is defined as the process of balancingthe supply of electricity with an electrical load by adjusting orcontrolling the load rather than the power station output. As usedherein an electrical load is an electrical component or portion of acircuit that consumes electric power. This is opposed to a power source,such as a battery or generator, which produces power. In electric powercircuits examples of loads are appliances and lights. The term may alsorefer to the power consumed by a circuit. Electrical load includes asystem or device connected to a signal source, whether or not itconsumes power. If an electric circuit has an output port, a pair ofterminals that produces an electrical signal, the circuit connected tothis terminal (or its input impedance) is the load. An electrical loadcan affect the performance of circuits with respect to output voltagesor currents, such as in sensors, voltage sources, and amplifiers.

As used herein a “building” is anything built or constructed includingbut not limited to a structure that is a relatively permanently enclosedconstruction over a plot of land, having a roof and usually windows.Examples of buildings include but are not limited to: agriculturalbuildings, commercial buildings, residential buildings, medicalbuildings, educational buildings, government buildings, industrialbuildings, military buildings, parking structures and storage, religiousbuildings, transport buildings, and the like.

As used herein “integrated” means composed to form a complete orcoordinated entity that can be combined, coupled to, coordinating,separate elements coupled to each other and the like.

As used herein “machine learning” is artificial intelligence andrelating to construction and studies of systems that can learn fromdata. Machine learning can give computation devices including but notlimited to computers with an ability to learn without being explicitlyplatformed. And can evolve from pattern recognition and computationallearning theory in artificial intelligence. As a non-limiting examplemachine learning explores the study and construction of algorithms thatcan learn from and make predictions on data. As a non-limiting examplethese algorithms can overcome following strictly static platforminstructions by making data-driven predictions or decisions and canbuild a model from sample inputs. Platforms include computationalstatistics, as well as mathematical optimization. Machine learning canbe unsupervised and be used to learn and establish baseline behavioralprofiles for various entities and then used to find meaningfulanomalies. For purposes of the present invention machine learningcollectively is called “machine intelligence

As used herein “local installed platform” means” a software platformthat can be a local installed platform is software that works incombination with the hardware. In one embodiment the local installedplatform is in communication with raw data that can be received from asensor, a command input or data input to generate device behaviors. Asnon-limiting examples the device behaviors can be commands and/or dataoutputs.

Referring to FIG. 1 in one embodiment a building adaptive control system10 for a building. (hereafter system “10”) is provided for controlling afirst switch terminal 12 or equivalent of a building 25 occupied by oneor more building occupants. As used herein switch terminal or equivalentincludes both the switch terminal 12 or equivalent includes switchterminal system, hereafter collectively called (“switch terminal 12 orequivalent”). The system 10 includes a plurality of switch terminalparameters relative to the building 25. A first computer system 14 iscoupled to the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent of the building 25at a first location of the building 25. The first computer system 14runs on at least one platform. A first plurality of sensors 15 arecoupled to the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent and the firstcomputer system 14. At least a portion of the sensors 15 provide signaldata to the first computer system 14. The first computer system 14produces a command or data output that relates to at least one of: acommand output for a local control system, a command output for adifferent system, a data output for a different system, a command outputfor a non-local device or a data output that is a non-local device, eachof an output including learned data from that is based on a machineintelligence from previous data collected about patterns of a buildingoccupant.

In various embodiments, switch terminal 12 or equivalent is configuredto provide one or more platforms for an occupant of a building 25 usingmachine learning relative to a switch terminal 12 or equivalent inresponse to an activity or a behavior of a building occupant or acharacteristic of the building itself. (Collectively a “buildingoccupant switch terminal parameter”.

In one embodiment an intelligent lighting system 10 is provided. In oneembodiment the lighting system 10 includes a first switch terminal 12 orequivalent, or a device that can provide communication between differentcomponents of system 10 (hereafter an “equivalent”), As a non-limitingexample the building 25 is occupied by one or more building occupants.In one embodiment the system 10 includes a plurality of switch terminal12 or equivalent parameters relative to the building. In one embodimenta first computer system 14 is coupled to the first switch terminal 12 orequivalent of the building 25 at a first location of the building 25. Asa non-limiting example the first computer system 14 with one or moresoftware platforms, hereafter platform, that runs on a computer system14. System 10 is the first or local system, and it can be coupled to oneor more non-local or third party systems 10.

In one embodiment a first plurality of sensors (collectively 15) arecoupled to the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent and the firstcomputer system 14. All or a portion of the sensors 15 can be internalor external to switch terminal 12 or equivalent. As a non-limitingexample each or a portion of the sensors 15 is configured to providesignal data to the first computer system 14. As a non-limiting examplesuitable sensors 15 including but not limited to IR sensors; imagesensors; ambient light sensors; microphones; proximity sensors; RGBsensors; humidity sensors; temperature sensors; carbon monoxide sensors;radar based sensors; laser measuring sensors; RF sensors;accelerometers) and the like;

The first computer system 14 produces a command or data output thatrelates to at least one of: a command output for a local control system16, a command output for a different control system, also 16, which canbe included in system 10 or second system 10, a data output for a secondsystem 10, a command output for a non-local or local device 18 that iscan be included or not included in system 10, and a data output that isfor a non-local device 18. In one embodiment each or at least a portionof an output includes learned data from that is based on machineintelligence from previous data collected about patterns of a buildingoccupant and the building itself.

In one embodiment device 18 is a hardware or software component. Device18 can be a local device 18 at the first system 10 or a non-local device18 that is external to first system 10 and can be included in a secondsystem (third party system), also referred to as system 10. In oneembodiment second system 10 is in communication with system 10, or atleast a portion of second system 10 is in communication with system 10.

In one embodiment a device 18 is a physical or software element thatprovides for communication and interaction in system 10. As anon-limiting example devices include but are not limited to: gateways,routers, network bridges, modems, wireless access points, networkingcables, line drivers, switches, hubs, and repeaters; and may alsoinclude hybrid network devices such as multilayer switches, protocolconverters, bridge routers, proxy servers, firewalls, network addresstranslators, multiplexers, network interface controllers, wirelessnetwork interface controllers. ISDN terminal adapters, other relatedhardware and the like.

In one embodiment at least one interface 20, FIG. 4, is coupled to thefirst switch terminal 12 or equivalent and the first computer system 14is configured to receive a command input. In one embodiment, at leastone building occupant interface 20, hereafter interface 20, is a pointof interaction between a computer system 14 and humans. In oneembodiment interface 20 includes any number of modalities of interaction(such as graphics, sound, position, movement, etc.) where data or otherinformation is transferred between the building occupant and computersystem 14. As non-limiting examples an interface 20 includes but it notlimited to: at least one of: a touch interface, a voice interface, acommunication interface 20, a wireless interface 20, a wireless radiointerface 20 and the like.

As a non-limiting example the building occupant enters a change in aswitch terminal 12 or equivalent parameter using the at least oneinterface 20. In one embodiment the first switch terminal 12 orequivalent is configured to receive from a second switch terminal 12 orequivalent a data output that is used to create a command output thatrelates to the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent or a non-localdevice 18.

In one embodiment the signal data is raw signal data. In one embodimentat least a portion of the sensors 15 receive raw sensor data.

As a non-limiting example the building occupant is a person who hasaccess rights to the building 25. In one embodiment the buildingoccupant does not occupy the building 25 at all times of a selected timeperiod. In one embodiment the building occupant enters and exits thebuilding 25.

In one embodiment a command is an instruction for a specific device 18to take an action.

As a non-limiting example the specific device 18 is the switch terminal12 or equivalent.

As non-limiting examples the command is provided from at least one of: amobile device 23, a cloud system 21, an input to the specific device 18and the like. In one embodiment the command is provided by using a touchscreen, also referred to as 20, of a switch terminal 12 or equivalentthat serves as a means for input of data, a command and the like.

In one embodiment the command is provided by the building occupant.

In one embodiment a data input is provided to at least a portion of thesensors 15.

As non-limiting examples the data input is selected from at least oneof: a processed sensor input from another device 18 that is relevant tothe system 10 In one embodiment, another device 18 can be included insystem 10, second system 10, and the like. As non-limiting examples datacan come from another device 18, which can be from system 10 or aseparate system 10. Input can be entered through at least one: abuilding occupant's voice, a touch screen display, a touch sensor, aphysical mechanism, components used to connect computers or otherelectronic devices together so that they can share files or resources,and the like.

In one embodiment an intelligent lighting system 10 is provided. In oneembodiment the intelligent lighting system 10 controls a first switchterminal 12 or equivalent of a building 25 occupied by one or morebuilding occupants. In one embodiment the system 10 includes a pluralityof switch terminal 12 or equivalent parameters relative to the building25. In one embodiment a first computer system 14 is coupled to the firstswitch terminal 12 or equivalent of the building at a first location ofthe building. As a non-limiting example the first computer system 14runs on at least one platform.

In one embodiment a first plurality of sensors 15 are coupled to thefirst switch terminal 12 or equivalent and the first computer system 14.As a non-limiting example each or a portion of the sensors 15 isconfigured to provide signal data to the first computer system 14. Thefirst computer system 14 produces a command or data output that relatesto at least one of: a command output for a local device 18, a commandoutput from a third party system 10, a command output for a non-localdevice 18 and a data output that is a non-local device 18. In oneembodiment each or at least a portion of an output includes learned datafrom that is based on machine intelligence from previous data collectedabout patterns of a building occupant.

As a non-limiting example the building occupant enters a change in aswitch terminal 12 or equivalent parameter using the at least oneinterface 20. In one embodiment the first switch terminal 12 orequivalent is configured to receive from a second switch terminal 12 orequivalent a data output that is used to create a command output thatrelates to the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent or a non-localdevice.

In one embodiment the signal data is raw signal data. In one embodimentat least a portion of the sensors receive raw sensor data.

As a non-limiting example the building occupant is a person who hasaccess rights to the building 25. In one embodiment the buildingoccupant does not occupy the building 25 at all times of a selected timeperiod. In one embodiment the building occupant enters and exits thebuilding 25.

In one embodiment a command is an instruction for a specific device 18to take an action. As a non-limiting example the specific device 18 isthe switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

As non-limiting examples the command is provided from at least one of: amobile device, a cloud system 21, a third party system, or an input tothe specific device

In one embodiment the command is provided using a touch screen of aswitch terminal 12 or equivalent interface 20.

In one embodiment the command is provided by the building occupant.

In one embodiment a data input is provided to at least a portion of thesensors 15.

As non-limiting examples the data input is selected from at least oneof: a processed sensor input from another device 18 that is relevant tothe system 10, a third party system 10 in communication with the firstsystem 10, and the like.

As non-limiting examples the data input is selected from at least one ofthe following: a processed sensor 15 input from another device 18 thatis within the local system 10; a processed sensor 15 input from anotherdevice 18 that is part of a separate system 10 (third party system), aprocesses sensor 15 input from another device 18 that may be relevant tosystem 10, a third party system 10 in communication with the firstsystem 10, and the like. As non-limiting examples switch terminals 12can include: switch terminals 12; electrical outlets; light sources,lamps; thermostats; cameras; smoke detectors; door locks; smarttelevisions; set top boxes; routers; wireless access points; mobiledevices and the like, (hereafter collectively “switch terminals 12”.

As non-limiting examples the output command is to the switch terminal 12or equivalent. In one embodiment the output command is to a system 10device 18 other than the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment the output command is provided to the second system10.

As non-limiting examples the data input can be any data and can includesat least one of: a building occupant's presence or use in a room; alight level; system information relative to a switch terminal 12 orequivalent. As non-limiting examples the data input can be any data andcan include at least one of: a measurement; a classification; adetermination based on logic; an announcement with regard to any aspectof a state being held, and the like.

As non-limiting examples the data input can be any data that can relateto at least one of: the environmental conditions of an area inside orproximate to a building 25; the number and identity of occupants insideor proximate to the building 25; the activities of building occupants;the performance and state of the electrical system of a building; theperformance and state of any power supply connected to the building 25;the functions of any system within the building 25 and the like.

In another embodiment the intelligent lighting system controls at leasttwo switch terminals 12 of the building 25 occupied by one or morebuilding occupants and the system including a plurality of switchterminal 12 or equivalent parameters relative to the building 25. Afirst computer system 14 coupled to a first switch terminal 12 orequivalent of the building 25 at a first location of the building 25,the first computer system 14 running on at least one platform. A secondcomputer system 14 is coupled to a second switch terminal 12 orequivalent of the building 25 at a second location of the building 25.In one embodiment the second computer system 14 runs on at least oneplatform. In another embodiment the second computer system 14 runs on adifferent platform. The first and second computer systems 14 are incommunication with each other. A first plurality of sensors is coupledto the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent and the first computersystem 14 and a second plurality of sensors is coupled to the secondswitch terminal 12 or equivalent and the second computer system 14. Eachof a sensor 15 is configured to provide signal data to the first orsecond computer systems 14 respectively. Each of the first and secondcomputer systems 14 produces a command or data output that relates to atleast one of: a command output for a local control system 16, a commandoutput for a different system, a data output for a different system, acommand output for a non-local device 18 or a data output that is anon-local device. Each of an output includes learned data from that isbased on machine intelligence from previous data collected aboutpatterns of a building occupant.

In one embodiment at least one interface 20 is coupled to the secondswitch terminal 12 or equivalent and the second computer system 14 isconfigured to receive a command input.

In one embodiment the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent and secondswitch terminal 12 or equivalent are configured to receive from eachother a data output that is used to create a command output that relatesto the first switch terminal 12 or equivalent, the second switchterminal 12 or equivalent or a non-local device.

In one embodiment the specific device 18 is the first or second switchterminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment the output command is to at least one of the first andswitch terminal 12 or equivalent interfaces 20.

In one embodiment the output command is to a system device 18 other thanthe first or second switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, the system 10 is provided for one or more rooms, aswell as non-rooms such as hallways and the like, in a building 25 thatincludes one or more load controlling device 18 each coupled with acomputing device 14. In one embodiment computing device 14 is integratedwith a load controlling device 18. In one embodiment switch terminal 12or equivalent are provided. In one embodiment system 10 that allows fora range of functions to be achieved via an interaction with the one ormore of the following: controlled loads, first party devices 18including among others additional switch terminal 12, mobile phones 23with first party applications running on them, a third party cloud 21,as illustrated in FIG. 1, the first party's back end instead of cloud21, third party devices 18 or services, mobile devices 23 and the like.

In various embodiments databases 27 relative to a building occupantswitch terminal parameter are provided. There can be multiple databases27 across devices 18 in system 10, associated with one or more terminalswitches, in the cloud 21, at a switch terminal backend, and the like.In one embodiment the one or more databases 27 includes a receivingdevice that includes a database of building occupant switch terminalparameters. The database receives information from the sensors 15 Atleast a portion of the building occupant switch terminal parameters areprocessed. In one embodiment the sensors 15 provide information relatingto the building occupant switch terminal parameter that is stored in thedatabase 27. In one embodiment the sensors 15 wirelessly communicate viaat least one communication route with a server that is in communicationwith the database 27. In one embodiment a building occupant switchterminal parameter classification system is used. The server uses one ormore processors to process the building occupant switch terminalparameter information from the sensors 15.

As non-limiting examples switch terminal parameters include but are notlimited to: electrical performance of different electrical loadscontrolled by the system 10 for optimal dimming performance; themonitoring of the health of the electrical loads; the preferred lightinglevels of occupants throughout the day and year; the activity patternsof building occupants; how building occupants prefer their lightingbased on different activity patterns; how natural light impactsdifferent rooms within a building; when people go to sleep; how manypeople regularly occupy a building; the individual preferences that areheld by different people who regularly occupy the building; generalizedpersonas that represent people that regularly occupy the building; thedistinct voice characteristics of different individuals inside thebuilding; the common patterns of usage of different internal areas ofthe building 25, persona identification; space mapping; lightingpersonas that are portable; switch(es) only features or switch(es) pluscloud; calls; intercom; load control calibration; electrical loadmonitory; hearing impaired features; WiFi repeating; third partyactivities such as guest mode; reporting on energy savings; eco mode;direct connection to a device 18; advertising based on the data; mobileapp interacting; switch setup; mobile devices 23 setup; mobile devices23 calibration; intelligent grouping; mobile devices 23 ordering ofswitches by distance in the app; method for opportunisticallytransferring data and platform via phone including but not limited to amobile devices 23; snapshot feature; applications on a switch by afirst, second, third party and the like; selectably managed; selectablyinstalled or deleted; applications on the switch 12 by back-end 17and/or cloud 21 a first, and the like; selectably installed or deleted;other devices/services interacting with the switch 12, including but notlimited to building 25 wake up; other devices/services and the like;coordination with light sources to deliver a desired light spectrum; andthe like.

In one embodiment system 10 uses platforms that are used by system 10 tobuild adaptive control systems 10 by using building occupant switchterminal parameters

As non-limiting examples, platform algorithms include but are notlimited to: NIB, Linear Regression. Logistic Regression, Decision Tree,SVM, Naïve, Bayes, KNNK-Means. Random Forest. Dimensionality Reduction,Algorithms Gradient Boost & Ad boost, and Linear Regression

System 10 can include switch terminal 12 or equivalent, other firstparty devices 18 including additional switch terminals 12 or equivalent,mobile devices 23 in communication with system 10, first party or thirdparty applications, Network Systems 25, a router 24, one or more bridge26. In various embodiments, system 10 provides a load controlling device18 or system 22 included with a computing device 14 that can beintegrated with load controlling device 18 to create a switch terminaldevice 12 or system 12. The switch terminal 12 or equivalent can includea power source, an electrical circuit 28, at least one electrical loadin addition to the switch terminal 12 or equivalent. As a non-limitingexample bridge 24 can provide any number of different types ofcommunication including but not limited to, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LowEnergy BLE and sub-GHz band; local and distributed protocols forestablishing a communication system RF, WiFi, and the like as more fullydiscussed hereafter.

In one embodiment system 10 is coupled to a third party system 10, thirdparty devices 18 or services accessible via the Network Systems 25, oneor more mobile devices 23, and the like.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 in one embodiment the switch terminal 12 orequivalent includes wiring components 30 that are coupled to existingcircuitry wiring 31, a power management system 32 and computing device14. In other embodiment additional devices 18 can be included.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 in one embodiment power management system 32can include a Micro Controller Unit MCU 34, a form of local energystorage 38, a load control system 22, which can be dynamic, one or morelocally executable platforms located on the included MCU 34 and anelectrical circuit characteristic measurement system 32. In oneembodiment the integrated computing device 14 includes the MCU 34, amemory system 42 for persistent storage 44, a set of locally executableplatforms located MCU 34 and provided by backend 17, cloud 21 and/or anetwork connectivity platform 46.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 in one embodiment the integrated computingdevice 14 includes one or more of; one or more building occupantinterface 20 elements including but not limited visual displays 48,touchscreen 50, LEDs 52, speakers 54, tactile buttons 56, voicerecognition interfaces 58 and haptic engines 60, one or more sensors 16and the like.

In one embodiment one or more additional processor components 62 areprovided including but not limited to CPUs, GPUs, and DSPs; one or moreadditional platforms provided by backend 17 and/or cloud 21 and loadedlocally onto the computing device 14 for local execution to achieveadditional functionality including but not limited to, matchinglearning, lighting related objectives, one or more networkingtechnologies including but not limited to Wifi, Bluetooth, BLE andsub-GHz band; local and distributed protocols for establishing acommunication system or method 64 between first and third party devices18 or services with each other. As a non-limiting example a mesh network64 can be used.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 in one embodiment one or more integratedcomputing devices 14 optionally communicate with one another whenpresent over one or more mesh networks 64. In one embodiment the meshnetwork 64 can be created over WiFi, sub-GHz, we well as any type ofsystem or method 64 that allows communication between first and thirdparty devices 18 or services with each other, and the like As Anon-limiting example mesh network 64 allows a range of different messagetypes to be transferred between individual computing devices 14including but not limited to messages that can include data or commandinputs for devices 18 other than the device 18 transmitting it.

In one embodiment system 10 uses one or more platforms. In oneembodiment a network-transmission-based (NTB) algorithm is utilized.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, when power isdetected on the electrical circuit 28, the included MCU 34, the localsinstalled on that MCU 34, and the lighting circuit measurement system 50can combine to identify, if present, the types of electrical lightingloads, other than the switch terminal 12 or equivalent, that are presenton that circuit to allow for differential treatment of those loads.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, when power isdetected on the electrical circuit 28, the included MCU 34, the one ormore platforms 14 installed on that MCU 34, and the lighting circuitmeasurement system 50 can combine to identify, if present, the specificmodels of electrical lighting loads that are present on that circuit bymatching their observed characteristics and matching them to previouslyrecorded fingerprints for other units of the same model to allow fordifferential treatment of those loads.

In one embodiment a load characterization algorithm is utilized incombination with memory by assessing the manner by which an attachedload consumes power from a controlled circuit. As a non-limiting examplethis can be achieved by executing a calibration procedure that uses asequence of opening and closing the circuit to measure and asseselectrical characteristics including but not limited to the circuit'spower factor, real and apparent power usage, the amount of current thatis necessary to generate resistance in the circuit, the timing ofin-rush current phases. Once the nature of the characteristics isdetermined the system can classify an attached load and appropriatelycontrol its power. In one embodiment this may or may not result in theenablement of dimming features for the load. If dimming features areenabled then further characterization of the dimming properties of thecircuit is completed to provide an automatic configuration of thecircuit for the computing device 18 to use in controlling the load andlimiting need to require the building occupant to configure the systemdirectly.

In one embodiment power management system 32 identifies the types ofelectrical lighting loads present.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, after identifyingthe types of electrical lighting loads present. As a non-limitingexample MCU 34, the one or more platforms 14 installed on that MCU 34,and the dynamic load control system 16 can combine with instructionsreceived from another source including but not limited to a buildingoccupant of the system, a networked device 18 or a cloud service tooptimally limit the power flowing through the electrical circuit 28 tothe loads to among other functions allow for the widest range of dimmingfor those electrical lighting loads, to ensure that the loads are notcompromised by inappropriate current on the line, to eliminateflickering for the electrical lighting loads by appropriately cuttingthe electrical sine-wave, and identify when loads have failed.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, the included MCU34, the one or more platforms installed on that MCU 34, and the dynamicload control system 16 can combine with the integrated computing device14 to monitor the health of the loads attached to the electrical circuit28. If this monitoring results in a determination either by the powermanagement system 32 or the integrated computing device 14, or acombination of those two elements that one or more of the electricallighting loads has failed or is likely to fail, than a notification canbe sent via the network connectivity platform 46 to a building occupantthat can take some action based on this information.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, the included MCU34, the one or more platforms installed on that MCU 34, the dynamic loadcontrol system 16 and the energy storage 38 can combine to ensure incases where there is a neutral wire available for connecting in theelectrical circuit 28, that (a) the switch terminal 12 or equivalentincluding both the power management system 32 and the integratedcomputing device 14 maintains sufficient power to operate when theelectrical circuit 28 is closed and the electrical loads are powered,(b) that the switch terminal 12 or equivalent maintains sufficient powerto operate when the electrical circuit 28 is open and the electricalloads are unpowered and (c) the switch terminal 12 or equivalentmaintains sufficient power to operate when there is now power at all inthe electrical circuit 28.

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, the included MCU34, the one or more platforms installed on that MCU 34, the dynamic loadcontrol system 22 and the energy storage 38 can combine to ensure incases where there is not a neutral wire available for connecting in theelectrical circuit 28, that (a) the switch terminal 12 or equivalentincluding both the power management system 32 and the integratedcomputing device 14 maintains sufficient power to operate when theelectrical circuit 28 is closed and the electrical loads are powered,(b) that the switch terminal 12 or equivalent maintains sufficient powerto operate when the electrical circuit 28 is open and the electricalloads are unpowered and (c) the switch terminal 12 or equivalentmaintains sufficient power to operate when there is now power at all inthe electrical circuit 28

In one embodiment of the power management system 32, when powerfluctuates on the electrical circuit 28, creating what is sometimescalled dirty loads, one or more of the included MCU 34, the one or moreplatforms installed on that MCU 34, the dynamic load control system 16and the lighting circuit measurement system 66 can combine to smooth outthe variability in the electrical frequency coming from the source todeliver a more stable frequency to the electrical loads. In oneembodiment this operation can thus eliminate or greatly reduce thevisible flickering of electrical lighting loads visible to buildingoccupants/humans.

In one embodiment one or more sensors 15 is utilized to determinewhether there is occupancy or activity in the room, or any other area ofbuilding 25, based on the sensors 15 specific methodology. When areading is registered on the sensor 15, that singular input is combinedwith the one or more platforms installed on the device 18 to make adetermination of whether the perceived signal qualifies as a presenceevent. This event and its characterization can then be immediately usedby other platforms installed on the integrated computing device 14 forvarious purposes related to the inventions operation.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude two or more one sensor 15. These are utilized to determinewhether there is occupancy or activity in the room based on themultitude sensors specific methodologies. In one embodiment when areading is registered one at least one of the sensors 15, the readingsfor all included sensors 15 can be individually evaluated and thenmerged to create a unified data signal representing all of the sensors15 in use. This multi-modal input is combined with the one or moreplatforms installed on the device 18 to make a determination of whetherthe perceived signal qualifies as a presence event. This event and itscharacterization can then be immediately used by other platformsinstalled on the integrated computing device 14 for various purposesrelated to the inventions operation.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude and at least one sensor 15. These are utilized to determinewhether there is occupancy or activity in the room based on the sensors15 specific methodology. When a reading is registered on the sensor 15,that singular input is combined with the one or more platforms installedon the device 18 to make a determination of whether the perceived signalqualifies as a presence event.

As a non-limiting example, this event, it's characterization and the rawdata recorded from the sensor or sensors 15 relating to that event canthen be saved to the storage system 54 so that it can be utilized laterby the locally installed platforms, or transferred via Network Systems15 to other similar first party devices 18, to mobile devices 23, tocloud 21, to third party devices 18 or services accessible via Networkand the like.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 18 can additionallyinclude two or more sensors 15, which can be internal or external tocomputing device 14. These are utilized to determine whether there isoccupancy or activity in the room based on the multitude sensors 15specific methodologies as more fully explained hereafter.

When a reading is registered with at least one of the sensors 15, thereadings for all included sensors 15 can be evaluated and then merged tocreate a unified data signal representing all of the sensors 15 in use.This multi-modal input is combined with the one or more platformsinstalled on the device 18 to make a determination of whether theperceived signal qualifies as a presence event.

This event, it's characterization and the raw data recorded from thesensors 15 relating to that event can then be saved to the storagesystem 54 so that it can be utilized later the locally installedplatforms, or transferred via a network connectivity method to othersimilar first party devices 18, to mobile devices 23, to cloud system21, to first party's back-end, to third party devices 18 or servicesaccessible via Network Systems.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude and at least one sensor 15. These are utilized to determinewhether there is an absence of occupancy or activity in the room basedon the sensors 15 specific methodology. When a reading is registered onthe sensor 15, that singular input is combined with the one or moreplatforms installed on the device 18 to make a determination of whetherthe perceived signal qualifies as an absence of presence event. Thisevent and its characterization can then be immediately used by otherplatforms installed on the integrated computing device 14 for variouspurposes related to the system 10 operation.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude two or more sensors 15. These are utilized to determine whetherthere is an absence of occupancy or activity in the room based on themultitude sensors 15 specific methodologies. When a reading isregistered one at least one of the sensors 15, the readings for all or aportion of the sensors 15, which may be at switch terminal 12 orequivalent or external to switch terminal, are individually evaluatedand then merged to create a unified data signal representing all thereadings from the all or portion of the sensors 15 that have been used.

This multi-modal input is combined with the one or more platformsinstalled on the device 18 to make a determination of whether theperceived signal qualifies as an absence of presence event, this eventand its characterization can then be immediately used by other platformsinstalled on the integrated computing device 14 for various purposesrelated to switch terminal 12 operation, building occupant switchterminal parameters

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude and at least one sensor 15. These are utilized to determinewhether there is an absence of occupancy or activity in the room basedon the sensors 15 specific methodology.

As a non-limiting example when a reading is registered on the sensor 15,that singular input is combined with the one or more platforms installedon the device 18 to make a determination of whether the perceived signalqualifies as an absence of presence event. This event, it'scharacterization and the raw data recorded from the sensor or sensors 15relating to that event can then save to the storage system 54 so that itcan be utilized later the locally installed platforms, or transferredvia a network connectivity method 58 to other similar first partydevices 14, to mobile devices 23, to first party back-end, cloud 21,third party devices 18 via the Network Systems.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14 can additionallyinclude two or more sensors 15. As a non-limiting example these can beused to determine whether there is an absence of occupancy or activityof a building occupant in the room or any portion of building 25 basedon the multitude sensors 15 specific methodologies. When a reading isregistered one at least one of the sensors 15, the readings for allincluded sensors 15 is individually evaluated and then merged to createa unified data signal representing all of the sensors 15 in use. Thismulti-modal input is combined with the one or more platforms installedon the device 18 to make a determination of whether the perceived signalqualifies as an absence of presence event.

This event, it's characterization and the raw data recorded from thesensors 15 relating to that event can then be saved to the storagesystem 44 so that it can be utilized later the locally installedplatforms, or transferred via a network connectivity method to cloudsystem 21, backend 17 to mobile devices 23, to first party controlledcloud service 20, to third party controlled cloud services 22,accessible via the Network Systems 25.

In one embodiment the integrated computing device 14, in combinationeither the one or more platforms installed on the device 18 or anyplatforms or platforms available on one or a combination of othersimilar first party devices 18, mobile devices 23, first partycontrolled cloud services 17, devices 18 and the like accessible via theNetwork Systems 25 that communicate with a single integrated computingdevice 14 via a network connectivity method, can dynamically adjust theavailable characteristics for a sensor 15 or group of sensors 15 tomodify the combinations determination of whether presence and activityevents or the absence of presence and activity are observed.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent can use one ormore sensors 15 to scan a three dimensional space of building 15. Theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent can combine signals from the sensor orsensors 15 with local installed platforms to make determinations as tothe existence or absence of presence or activity in that space,determine the nature or characteristics of the presence or activity inthat space by a building occupant and independently decide how to alterits function based on that determination.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent can utilize itsability to scan a three dimensional space and determine the existence orabsence of presence of activity in that space to independently decidehow to control an electrical lighting circuit 14. The dimensions of howthe switch terminal 12 or equivalent controls the circuit 16, includingbut not limited to a light circuit 16, can thus be a result of itsinterpretation of a multitude of signals and other contextual factors tocreate an control system living experience, which can be as anon-limiting example an adaptive control system experience, thatprovides for the, local determination of lighting states based on whatis specifically happening in a three dimensional space observed by aparticular switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent may have morethan one local installed platforms executing simultaneously on itsintegrated computing device 14 that each are independently assessing asingle signal from a sensor 15 or a multitude of signals from more thanone sensor 15 to the end of each making their own independent decisionabout how the lighting environment as controlled by the electricalcircuit 28 to which that switch terminal 12 or equivalent is attachedshould adapt to meet a predetermined state based on their independentassessments as to the existence or absence of presence or activity,including but not limited to that of a building occupant, in a space ofbuilding 25, or the nature of the existence or absence of presence oractivity in that space.

When more than one platforms attempt to change the state of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent control of the electrical lighting circuit 14,another third local installed platform will be executed to determinewhich of the platforms may control the state of the switch terminal 12or equivalent circuit control. This central lighting decision engine 66can assess a range of attributes included in platforms attempt to changethe state of the power management system 32, the means by which a switchterminal 12 or equivalent controls the electrical lighting circuit 14 towhich it is attached, and determine how the attempts should be appliedto the power management system 32.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent, while observinga three dimensional space of building 25, may have one or more localinstalled platforms determine that their local interpretation of thesignals collected via one or more sensors 15 suggest the existence ofpresence or activity in that space that when combined with the logic intheir respective platforms result in one or more of the platformsinitiating a command to change the state of the power management system32 to allow for at least some electricity to reach to loads attached tothe electrical lighting circuit 28. In some instances the command issuedby one or more of these platforms may be to allow more electricity intothe circuit or to allow less electricity. In all instances, thesecommands are assessed by the central light decision engine 66 andexecuted or not based on the determination of that one or moreplatforms.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent, while observinga three dimensional space, may have one or more local installedplatforms determine that their local interpretation of the signalscollected via one or more sensors 15 suggest the absence of presence oractivity in that space that when combined with the logic in theirrespective platforms result in one or more of the platforms initiating acommand to change the state of the power management system 32 to allowfor no electricity to reach to loads attached to the electrical circuit28. In some instances the command issued by one or more of theseplatforms may be first allow more or less electricity into the circuitbut it ultimately request that not electricity be allowed to powerloads. In all instances, these commands are assessed by the centrallight decision engine 66 and executed or not based on the determinationof that one or more platforms, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

In one embodiment, when it includes an ambient light sensing device 18as one of its sensors 15, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent canassess the illuminance of the three dimensional space or building 25 itobserves. In certain cases, the local installed platforms, can interpretthe signal from this ambient light sensing device 18 and use thatmeasurement to alter the switch terminal 12 or equivalent operation.Local installed platforms can use the ambient light measurement totrigger certain actions within their own platform or initiate otherlocal installed platforms. These one or more platforms 14 can also issuecommands to change the power management system's 32 state that instructsthat system 10 to change its control of the electrical lighting circuit14 until a specific value is attained from the attached ambient lightsensing device.

In one embodiment, when it includes an ambient light sensing device 18as one of its sensors 15, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent canemploy any system 10 local platforms for determining whether there is anexistence or absence of presence or activity of a building occupant andthe nature of that circumstances combined with an ambient light sensorto maintain a state of constant lighting level in a space (constantilluminance), or at least attempt to reach a state closest to thedesired levels by assessing changes in ambient light conditions via asensor 15, interpreting those changes via one or more platforms and thenadjusting the state of the power management system 32 to vary the amountof power reaching the electrical lighting loads. The platformmaintaining the constant illuminance provided by the switch terminal 12or equivalent may attempt to maintain the exact amount of lightoriginally created, or it might navigate to other lighting levels basedon certain instructions from other platforms executing on the device 18.

In one embodiment, when it includes an ambient light sensing device 18as one of its sensors 15, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent canreceive inputs from a building occupant via an interface 20, anapplication on a mobile device 23 or a platform initiated on a first orthird party cloud service to request a certain level of illuminance fromthe electrical circuit 28 and electrical lighting loads connected tothat switch terminal 12 or equivalent. Once this manual request isreceived by a switch terminal 12 or equivalent, it can maintain a levelof constant illuminance, or at least attempt to reach a state closets tothe desired levels by assessing changes in ambient light conditions viaa sensor 15, interpreting those changes via one or more platforms andthen adjusting the state of the power management system 32 to vary theamount of power reaching the electrical lighting loads. The platformmaintaining the constant illuminance provided by the switch terminal 12or equivalent when the light level is manually requested by a buildingoccupant will control the state of the power management system 32 in itsattempt to reflect the requested value until a local installed platformdecides for it to no longer be controlling.

In one embodiment, the local installed platforms can combine with thepower management system 32 to shift the level of power reaching theelectrical lighting loads. When these shifts occur, the local installedplatforms can execute a fully platform able (not fixed) transitionbetween one lighting levels to another. These transitions allow for anappreciably smooth transition of the lights that is non-linear likeexisting systems. In addition, the fully platform able nature of thesetransitions allow for the local installed platforms, if desired, to usethe transition to communicate certain messages to the occupants of aroom.

In one embodiment, one or more of the local installed platforms canserve to regulate the power management system 32 according to theplatforms' internally defined logic and thus control the state of theelectrical lighting circuit 14 in order to effectuate a modulation ofthe light exposure generated by the electrical lighting loads attachedto that circuit in order to create health related impacts on theoccupants of a space within which those loads exist. These healthrelated impacts could result from the specific exposure to light or lackof exposure to light or exposure to different levels of light atdifferent times of the day, or in patterns that affect a human subjectsbiological systems.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, in one embodiment, the present inventionincludes a switch terminal 12 or equivalent that minimally includes twoor more switch terminal 12 or equivalent to operate on a commonlyaccessible network 74 and thus can coordinate their individual andconcerted operation based on information shared between the devices.This interaction also allows for the switch terminal 12 or equivalent toexecute additional capabilities as an integrated system that anindividual switch terminal 12 or equivalent could not do in isolation.

In one embodiment, two or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent canmatch independently and use networking technology 68 shared in common byeach device 18 to create an ad-hoc mesh network 64 between themselves,thus forming the required commonly accessible network 74 to allow theindependent devices to begin constituting the switch terminal 12 orequivalent. In this embodiment, no externally provided network (thirdparty) like a wireless LAN, hardwire or bridge 18 is necessary for thesystem 10 to compose itself.

In one embodiment, the two or more switch terminals 12 or equivalent canuse backend 17, cloud system 21 and the like to seek and identify theexistence of other switch terminal 12 or equivalent on the network andbegin constituting the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment two or more switch terminals 12 or equivalents use apreviously existing and independent third party accessible network 10 toseek and identify the existence of other switch terminals 12 orequivalent at first party system 10, or at third party system 10. Thiscan then begin constituting the switch terminal 12 or equivalent as wellas interact with other nodes that might exist on that same system 10. Ifthis system 10 has other third party devices 18 associated with it thenboth the switch terminal 12 or equivalent and an individual switchterminal 12 or equivalent can interact with those available devices 18.In one embodiment if this network has access to Network Systems 25. Thisinteraction can then be coupled with first party back-end, cloud 21,third party devices 18 or services, and the like.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent can allow otherswitch devices of system 10, or a third party system to begin sendingand receiving data between devices to allow for the operation of thoseindividual switch terminal 12 or equivalent to be based on data thatthey wouldn't have been able to attain independently via their localinstalled platforms, sensors 15, interfaces 20 and the like.

In one embodiment, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent can use theindividual switch terminal 12 or equivalents' ability to combine signalsfrom the sensor or sensors 15 with local installed platforms and makedeterminations as to the existence or absence of presence or activity inthat space, and determine the nature or characteristics of the presenceor activity in that space to inform the members of the switch terminal12 or equivalent to the existence or absence of presence or activity inthe disparately observed spaces and the nature or characteristics of thepresence of activity as to allow the members of the system to altertheir operation based on information collected from spaces they cannotsimilarly observe based on their physical location.

In one embodiment, a switch terminal 12 or equivalent (“first device”)that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent can utilizeanother member's (“second device”) ability to scan an three dimensionalspace that is not similarly perceived from the first device 18 anddetermine the existence or absence of presence of activity in that spaceto allow the first device 18 to decide how to control an electricallighting circuit 14 to which it is attached. The dimensions of how thefirst device 18 controls the electrical lighting circuit 28 can thus bea result of its interpretation of a multitude of signals and othercontextual factors received from a second device 18 to create anadaptive control system experience, that as a non-limiting example,provides for the, local determination of lighting states. The adaptivecontrol system is based on what is specifically happening in one or morethree dimensional spaces of building 25 not similarly observed by aparticular switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, a switch terminal 12 or equivalent (“first device”)that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent may have morethan one local installed platforms executing simultaneously on itsintegrated computing device 14 that each are independently assessing asingle signal from a sensor 15 or a multitude of signals from more thanone sensor 15 attached to a other members of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent (“other devices”) so as to allow the one or more platforms onthe first device 18 to make their own independent decision about how thelighting environment as controlled by the electrical lighting circuit 14to which that first switch terminal 12 or equivalent is attached shouldadapt to meet a predetermined state based on the one or more platforms'independent assessments as to the existence or absence of presence oractivity in a space or the nature of the existence or absence ofpresence or activity in a space not perceived in the same way by thefirst device.

In one embodiment, a switch terminal 12 or equivalent (“first device”)observes a three dimensional space of building 25 and receivesinformation from other devices 18 or platforms elements of the system10, as well as third party systems, switch terminal 12 or equivalent(“other devices”), may receive data from other devices that allow one ormore local installed platforms on the first device 18 to determine basedon its local interpretation of the signals collected via one or moresensors 15 of other devices, or a direct indication from a localinstalled platforms on those other devices that based on their localinterpretation of their collected signals that there is the existence ofpresence or activity in their observed space—a space not similarlyobserved by the first device. The reaching of this independentdetermination or the reception of a similar message from another device18 can allow the first device 18 v to inform it's local installedplatforms to evaluate whether the first device 18 may also initiate acommand to change the state of the power management system 32 to allowfor at least some electricity to reach to loads attached to theelectrical lighting circuit 28.

In one embodiment the command issued by one or more of these platformsmay be to allow more electricity into the circuit or to allow lesselectricity. In all instances, these commands are assessed by a centrallighting decision engine and executed or not based on the determinationof that one or more platforms.

In one embodiment, a switch terminal 12 or equivalent (“first device”)that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent, while observinga three dimensional space and receiving information from other membersof the switch terminal 12 or equivalent (“other devices”), to determinebased on its local interpretation of the signals collected via one ormore sensors 15 of other devices, or a direct indication from a localinstalled platforms on those other devices that based on their localinterpretation of their collected signals that there is the absence ofpresence or activity in the observed space—a space not similarlyobserved by the first device. The reaching of this independentdetermination or the reception of a similar message from another device18 can allow the first device 18 to inform it's local installedplatforms to evaluate whether the first device 18 may initiate a commandto change the state of the power management system 32 to allow for noelectricity to reach to loads attached to the electrical lightingcircuit 14.

In one embodiment the command issued by one or more of these platformsmay first allow more or less electricity into the circuit but itultimately request that no electricity be allowed to power loads at all.In all instances, these commands are assessed by the central lightdecision engine 66 and executed or not based on the determination ofthat one or more platforms.

In one embodiment, when at least one of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalentincludes an ambient light sensing device 18 as one of its sensors 15,the system can assess the illuminance in three dimensional spaces whereat times not all of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent can perceivethe illuminance of all the observed spaces in a building. In certaincases, the local installed platforms on one device 18 (“first device”),can interpret the illuminance signal from an ambient light sensingdevice 18 attached to a second device 18 and use that measurement toalter the first devices' operation. Local installed platforms on anyswitch terminal 12 or equivalent connected to a switch terminal 12 orequivalent can use the ambient light measurement capability of any othermember of the system to trigger certain actions within its own platformor initiate other local installed platforms on other devices.

These one or more platforms can also issue commands to change the powermanagement system's 32 state for the first device, or possibly to otherdevices in the system by instructing that the system to change itscontrol of the electrical lighting circuit 14 until a specific value isattained from a single or plurality of ambient light sensing devicesattached to the system 10.

In one embodiment, when at least one of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalentincludes an ambient light sensing device 18 as one of its sensors 15,the system can to assess the illuminance in three dimensional spaceswhere at times not all of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent canperceive the illuminance of all the observed spaces. In some cases, theswitch terminal 12 system or equivalent can combine is ability to makedeterminations as to the existence or absence of presence in activityand the nature of those circumstances across one or more spaces observedby at least one of its members and the capability of one or more ofthose devices via at least one ambient light sensor to assess theilluminance of one or more of the observed spaces to maintain a state ofconstant lighting level in one or more spaces (constant luminance), orat least attempt to reach a state closest to the desired levels ofilluminance by assessing changes in ambient light conditions via asensor 15, interpreting those changes via one or more platforms on atleast one of the member devices and then adjusting the state of thepower management system 32 on one or more of the member devices to varythe amount of power reaching the electrical loads.

The platform or platforms maintaining the constant illuminance providedby the switch terminal 12 or equivalent may attempt to maintain theexact amount of light originally desired, or it might navigate to otherlighting levels based on certain instructions from other platformsexecuting on devices within the system.

In one embodiment, when at least one of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalentincludes an ambient light sensing device 18 as one of its sensors 15,the system can to assess the illuminance in three dimensional spaceswhere at times not all of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent canperceive the illuminance of all the observed spaces. In some cases, theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent can receive inputs from a buildingoccupant via an interface 20 coupled to a switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of the system, an application on a mobiledevice 23 or a platform initiated on a first or third party cloudservice to request a certain level of illuminance from one or more ofthe electrical circuit 28 and electrical lighting loads connected toswitch terminal 12 or equivalent that are a member of the system 10.

Once this manual request is received by a switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of system 10 it can distribute that commandto any one or multitude of other devices on the system, and ifrequested, maintain a level of constant illuminance in the spacesobserved by one or more of the member devices, or at least attempt toreach a state closest to the desired levels by assessing changes inambient light conditions via a one or more ambient light sensors 15included in member devices, by interpreting changes in ambient lightcollected via one or more member devices, including the possibility ofcollecting readings from its own sensors 15, via one or more platformsand then adjusting or requesting the adjustment of the state of thepower management system 32 on any number of the member devices in orderto vary the amount of power reaching the electrical lighting loads.

The platform or platforms maintaining the constant illuminance providedby the switch terminal 12 or equivalent when the light level is manuallyrequested by a building occupant will control the state of the powermanagement system 32 of member devices in its attempt to reflect therequested illuminance level until a local installed platform on any oneof the member devices decides for it to no longer be controlling.

In one embodiment, when two or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent, the localinstalled platforms on each discrete member device 18 can interact withlocal installed platforms of other member devices to orchestrate systemwide changes in lighting levels by coordinating individual shifts in thelevel of power reaching the electrical loads attached to member devices.When these shifts occur, the local installed platforms can execute afully platform able (not fixed) transition between one lighting level toanother by both a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent in the systemor by two or more, and possible the entire group of member devices. Inaddition, the fully platform able nature of these transitions allow forthe local installed platforms, if desired, to use the transition tocommunicate certain messages to the occupants of a room or any otherspace in building 25.

In one embodiment, when two or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent, one or more of thelocal installed platforms on each discrete member device 18 can interactwith local installed platforms of other member devices their powermanagement systems 32 according to the platforms' internally definedlogic and thus control the state of the electrical lighting circuits 14attached to the lighting system to effectuate a modulation of the lightexposure generated by the electrical lighting loads attached to thosecircuits in order to create health related impacts on the occupants of aspace or spaces where those loads exist. These health related impactscould result from the specific exposure to light or lack of exposure tolight or exposure to different levels of light at different times of theday, or in patterns that affect a human subject's biological systems.

In one embodiment system switch 12 can be used for local machinelearning on switch 12 and one or more devices 18 can be combined forthis purpose.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent is thesole member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent, one or more of thelocal installed platforms on that device 18 can collect and optionallysummarize data received from sensors 15 integrated into that device, thedata generated by a building occupant's interaction with the switchterminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20, mobile devices 23, and datacreated by local installed platforms to create a corpus of data uponwhich those local installed platforms can analyze and derive insightsthrough the use of platform algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the presence of activity in anobserved space, the absence of activity in an observed space, thecharacteristics of the activity and the most appropriate adaptivecontrol system behavior as learned from the collected data. As anon-limiting example of a type of control system behavior, the system 10can identify based on the learned data the desired level of illuminancein a space based on the observed level of activity, the appropriateamount of electricity required by the electrical lighting circuit 14 toproduce the desired amount of illuminance in the observed space asprescribed by one or more of the local installed platform 39, thusresulting in the continual enhancement of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent performance in delivering the adaptive control system in aspace observed by the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is notconnected to a Network Systems 25 connection, one or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the discrete member devices 18 cancollect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated on one or any number of the member devices 18, data generatedby a building occupants interaction with the switch terminal 12 orequivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any number of the first partydevices 18, other similar first party devices 18, mobile devices 23.Network Systems 25 devices 18, third party devices 18 or servicesaccessible directly via Network Systems 25, and data created by localinstalled platforms on one or more of the member devices in the switchterminal 12 or equivalent to create a corpus of data upon which thelocal installed platforms on any one of the member devices can analyzeand derive insights through the use of platforms algorithms that improvethe local installed platforms accuracy in determining the presence ofactivity in an observed space, the absence of activity in an observedspace, the characteristics of the activity and the most appropriateadaptive control system behavior as learned from the collected data. Asa non-limiting example of a type of control system behavior, the system10 can identify based on the learned data the desired level ofilluminance in an observed space based on the observed level ofactivity, the appropriate amount of electricity required by theelectrical lighting circuit 14 to produce the desired amount ofilluminance in any particular space as prescribed by one or more of thelocal installed platform 39, thus resulting in the continual enhancementof switch terminal 12 or equivalent performance in delivering theadaptive control system in a space observed by any member of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent and that system isconnected to the Network Systems 25, one or more of the local installedplatforms on one or more of the discrete member devices can collect andoptionally summarize data received from sensors 15 integrated on one orany number of the member devices, data generated by a building occupantsinteraction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20on one or any number of the first party devices 18, mobile devices 23,Network Systems devices 18, third party devices 18 or services directlyvia a Network Systems 25 and data created by local installed platformson one or more of the first or third party devices 18 to create a corpusof data upon which those installed platforms can analyze and deriveinsights through the use of platforms algorithms that improve the localinstalled platforms accuracy in determining the presence of a buildingoccupant, a building occupant's activity in an observed space, theabsence of a building occupant or an activity in an observed space thecharacteristics of the activity and the most appropriate adaptivecontrol system behavior as learned from the collected data. As anon-limiting example of a type of control system behavior, the system 10can identify based on the learned data the desired level of illuminancein a space based on the observed level of activity, the appropriateamount of electricity required by a electrical lighting circuit 28 toproduce the desired amount of illuminance in a space as prescribed byone or more of the local installed platforms.

In one embodiment this can result in the continual enhancement of switchterminal 12 or equivalent performances in delivering the adaptivecontrol system in a space observed by any member of the switch terminal12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalentincludes an ambient light sensor 15, the local installed platforms onthe specific switch terminal 12 to which the ambient light sensor 15 isintegrated, or if that switch terminal 12 or equivalent is a member of aswitch terminal 12 or equivalent than the local installed platforms onany of the devices 15 in that system 10 can collect and optionallysummarize illuminance data from the ambient light sensor 15 on theoriginal device 18, data created by locally installed platforms on anydevice 18in the system 10 that relate to the state of the power providedto the electrical lighting circuits 38 controlled by those devices 18,the load characteristics of lighting loads attached to any circuitattached to a member of the system 10 to be analyzed by a platformintended to generate a mathematical relationship between the lightlevels perceived by the ambient light sensor on the original device 18and the actual levels of light present in the space observed by theoriginal device 18.

Additionally, this same data and computational results can be used toinform local installed platforms on any member of the switch system ofthe actual lighting characteristics, including how much power relates tothe creation of how much light projected into the space is representedby any electrical lighting circuit 38 connected to a switch terminal 12or equivalent that is a member of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent is thesole member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent, one or more of thelocal installed platforms on that device 18 can collect and optionallysummarize data received from sensors 15 integrated into that device 18,data generated by a building occupant's interaction with the switchterminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20, mobile devices 23, and datacreated by local installed platforms to create a corpus of data uponwhich those local installed platforms can analyze and derive insightsthrough the use of platforms algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the relationship between an occupant'sor occupants' activity in a specific space and their desired level ofillumination in that space for a particular activity. The localinstalled platforms responsible for computing this relationship willtake into consideration the evolving nature of activity in an observedspace, the building occupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobiledevices 23 to adjust the level of illuminance in a space during anyparticular activity and continually improve the accuracy of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent ability to make the appropriaterecommendations for illuminance relative to the occupant's or occupants'activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent performance in delivering the adaptive controlsystem experience in a space observed by the switch terminal 12 orequivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent, that is notconnected to a Network Systems 25 connection One or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the discrete member devices cancollect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated on one or any number of the member devices 18. Additionallydata generated can be provided by a building occupant's interaction withthe switch terminal 12 or equivalent which can be via interfaces 20 onone or any number of the member devices 18, other similar first partydevices 18, mobile devices 23, and Network Systems devices 18, thirdparty devices 18 or services and services. Additionally data created bylocal installed platforms on one or more of the member devices in theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent create a corpus of data upon which thelocal installed platforms on any one of the member devices that cananalyze and derive insights through the use of platforms algorithms thatimprove the local installed platforms accuracy in determining therelationship between an occupant's or occupants' activity in a specificspace and their desired level of illumination in that space for aparticular activity.

In one embodiment the local installed platforms responsible forcomputing this relationship can take into consideration the evolvingnature of activity in an observed space, the building occupant's manualinputs to interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the level ofilluminance in a space during any particular activity and continuallyimprove the accuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent ability tomake the appropriate recommendations for illuminance relative to theoccupant's or occupants' activity. This can result in the continualenhancement of switch terminal 12 or equivalent performances indelivering the adaptive control system experience in a space observed byany member of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent and system 10 isconnected to Network Systems 25 one or more of the local installedplatforms on one or more of the discrete member devices can collect andoptionally summarize data received from sensors 15 integrated on one orany number of the member devices, data generated by a building occupantsinteraction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20on one or any number of the member devices, other similar first partydevices 14, mobile devices 23. Network Systems 25 devices 18, thirdparty devices 18 or services accessible directly via a Network Systems25, third party control cloud service 17, third party devices 18 andservices accessible via Network Systems 25 connection and data createdby local installed platforms on one or more of the network 10 or thirdparty devices 18 to create a corpus of data upon which those localinstalled platforms can analyze and derive insights through the use ofplatforms algorithms that improve the local installed platforms accuracyin determining the relationship between an occupant's or occupants'activity in a specific space and their desired level of illumination inthat space for a particular activity.

In one embodiment local installed platforms responsible for computingthis relationship can take into consideration the evolving nature ofactivity in an observed space, the building occupant's manual inputs tointerfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the level of illuminancein a space during any particular activity and continually improve theaccuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent ability to make theappropriate recommendations for illuminance relative to the occupant'sor occupants' activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement ofswitch terminal 12 or equivalent performance in delivering the adaptivecontrol system in a space observed by any member of the switch terminal12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is notconnected to an Network Systems 25 connection, one or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the discrete member devices cancollect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated on one or any number of the member devices, data generated bya building occupants interaction with the switch terminal 12 orequivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any number of the member devices,other similar first party devices 14, mobile devices 23, third partydevices 18, and data created by local installed platforms on one or moreof the devices 18 in the switch terminal 12 or equivalent to create acorpus of data upon which the local installed platforms on any one ofthe member devices can analyze and derive insights through the use ofplatforms algorithms that improve the local installed platforms accuracyin determining the relationship between an occupant's or occupants'movement from one space to another within large space that is made up oftwo or more smaller but related spaces.

By analyzing aspects of this data set, including, but not limited to,time of day, time intervals between sensor data, activity levels,presence or absence of presence, the local installed platforms canconstruct activity or pattern maps that represent the distinctive mannerby which occupants observed in these spaces move between them. Thisinformation can then be used by local installed platforms 34 distributedthroughout the switch terminal 12 or equivalent to predicatively changethe state of adaptive control systems, including but not limited to theelectrical lighting circuits 14 controlled by their respective switchterminal 12 or equivalent to allow for light to be adjusted in anparticular space in advance of the occupant's or occupants' presence inthat space or just before that light is needed by an occupant oroccupants. The local installed platforms responsible for computing theserelationship and maps will take into consideration the evolving natureof activity in an observed space, the building occupant's manual inputsto interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the level ofilluminance in a space during any particular activity and continuallyimprove the accuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent ability tomake the appropriate recommendations for machine learning illuminancerelative to the occupant's or occupants' activity. This can result inthe continual enhancement of switch terminal 12 or equivalentperformances in delivering the adaptive control system experience in aspace observed by any member of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent and that system isconnected to the Network Systems 25, one or more of the local installedplatforms on one or more of the discrete member devices can collect andoptionally summarize data received from sensors 15 integrated on one orany number of the member devices, data generated by a building occupantsinteraction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20on one or any number of the member devices, other similar first partydevices 14, mobile devices 23, Network Systems devices 18, third partydevices 18 and services accessible directly via Network Systems 25,third party control cloud services 22, third party devices 18 andservices accessible via the network and Network Systems 25 connectionand data created by local installed platforms on one or more of themember devices to create a corpus of data upon which those localinstalled platforms can analyze and derive insights through the use ofplatforms algorithms that improve the local installed platforms accuracyin determining the relationship between an occupant's or occupants'movement from one space to another within large space that is made up oftwo or more smaller but related spaces. By analyzing aspects of thisdata set, including, but not limited to, time of day, time intervalsbetween sensor data, activity levels, presence or absence of presence,the local installed platforms can construct activity or pattern mapsthat represent the distinctive manner by which occupants observed inthese spaces move between them.

This information can then be used by local installed platforms 34distributed throughout the switch terminal 12 or equivalent topredicatively change the state of adaptive control systems, includingbut not limited to the electrical lighting circuits 14 controlled bytheir respective switch terminal 12 or equivalent to allow for light tobe adjusted in an particular space in advance of the occupant's oroccupants' presence in that space or just before that light is needed byan occupant or occupants. The local installed platforms responsible forcomputing these relationship and maps will take into consideration theevolving nature of activity in an observed space, the buildingoccupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 toadjust the level of illuminance in a space during any particularactivity and continually improve the accuracy of the switch terminal 12or equivalent ability to make the appropriate recommendations formachine learning illuminance relative to the occupant's or occupants'activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement of switch terminal12 or equivalent performance in delivering the adaptive control systemin a space observed by any member of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent is thesole member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent, one or more of thelocal installed platforms on that device 18 can collect and optionallysummarize data received from sensors 15 integrated into that device,data generated by a building occupant's interaction with the switchterminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20, mobile devices 23, and datacreated by local installed platforms to create a corpus of data uponwhich those local installed platforms can analyze and derive insightsthrough the use of platforms algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the identity of an occupant oroccupants observed in a space.

As the accuracy of the one or more platforms ability to identifydistinct people regularly perceived in a given observed space increase,these local installed platforms can then construct personas containingprofile information about such occupants that include, among otherinformation, the occupants desired lighting preferences for a particularspace given a particular activity and time of day, and the regularmovement patterns within a series of connected spaces for that occupant.Subsequently these personas can be used to further improve the accuracyof other predictions made by the local installed platforms to enhancethe switch terminal 12 or equivalent ability to make the appropriaterecommendations for changes in the state of adaptive control systems,including but not limited to the illuminance relative to the specificoccupant's or occupant's activity.

The local installed platforms responsible for computing thisrelationship can take into consideration the evolving nature of activityin an observed space, the identified building occupant's manual inputsto interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the level ofilluminance in a space during any particular activity and continuallyimprove the accuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalentrecommendations. In one embodiment this can result in the continualenhancement of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent performances indelivering the adaptive control system experience in a space observed bythe switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is notconnected to an Network Systems 25 connection, one or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the discrete member devices cancollect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated on one or any number of the member devices, data generated bya building occupants interaction with the switch terminal 12 orequivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any number of the member devices,other similar first party devices 18, mobile devices 23, third partydevices 18, and data created by local installed platforms on one or moreof the member devices in the switch terminal 12 or equivalent to createa corpus of data upon which the local installed platforms on any one ofthe member devices can analyze and derive insights through the use ofplatforms algorithms that improve the local installed platforms accuracyin determining the identity of an occupant or occupants observed in aspace.

As the accuracy of the one or more platforms can provide an ability toidentify distinct people regularly perceived in a given observed spaceincrease, these local installed platforms can then construct personascontaining profile information about such occupants that include, amongother information, the occupants desired lighting preferences for aparticular space given a particular activity and time of day, and theregular movement patterns within a series of connected spaces for thatoccupant. Subsequently these personas can be used to further improve theaccuracy of other predictions made by the local installed platforms toenhance the switch terminal 12 or equivalent ability to make theappropriate recommendations for changes of state of adaptive controlsystems, including but not limited to the illuminance relative to thespecific occupant's or occupants' activity.

In one embodiment the local installed platforms responsible forcomputing this relationship can take into consideration the evolvingnature of activity in an observed space, the identified buildingoccupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 toadjust the level of illuminance in a space during any particularactivity and continually improve the accuracy of the switch terminal 12or equivalent's recommendations 72. This can result in the continualenhancement of switch terminal 12 or equivalent performances indelivering the adaptive control system experience in a space observed byany member of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent and that system isconnected to the Network Systems 25, one or more of the local installedplatforms on one or more of the discrete member devices can collect andoptionally summarize data received from sensors 15 integrated on one orany number of the member devices, data generated by a building occupantsinteraction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20on one or any number of the member devices, other similar first partydevices 18, mobile devices 23, Network Systems 25 devices 18, thirdparty devices 18 and services accessible directly via Network Systems25, third party control cloud services, third party devices 18 andservices accessible via the network and Network Systems 25 connectionand data created by local installed platforms on one or more of thedevices 18 or first or third parties to create a corpus of data uponwhich those local installed platforms can analyze and derive insightsthrough the use of platforms algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the identity of an occupant oroccupants observed in a space. As the accuracy of the one or moreplatforms 39′ ability to identify distinct people regularly perceived ina given observed space increases, these local installed platforms canthen construct personas containing profile information about suchoccupants that include, among other information, the occupants desiredlighting preferences for a particular space given a particular activityand time of day, and the regular movement patterns within a series ofconnected spaces for that occupant. Subsequently these personas can beused to further improve the accuracy of other predictions made by thelocal installed platforms to enhance the switch terminal 12 orequivalent ability to make the appropriate recommendations for changesof state of adaptive control systems, including but not limited to theilluminance relative to the specific occupant's or occupants' activity.

In one embodiment the local installed platforms responsible forcomputing this relationship can include the evolving nature of activityin an observed space, the identified building occupant's manual inputsto interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the level ofilluminance in a space during any particular activity and continuallyimprove the accuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent'srecommendations 72. In one embodiment this can result in the continualenhancement of switch terminal 12 or equivalent performances indelivering the adaptive control system in a space observed by any memberof the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when two or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is notconnected to an Network Systems 25 connection, one or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the discrete member devices cancollect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated on one or any number of the member devices, data generated bya building occupants interaction with the switch terminal 12 orequivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any number of the member devices,other similar first party devices 18, mobile devices 23, third partydevices 18, and data created by local installed platforms on one or moreof the member devices in switch terminal 12 or equivalent to create acorpus of data upon which the local installed platforms on any one offirst or third party devices 18 can analyze and derive insights throughthe use of platforms algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the spatial relationships of oneobserved space to other observed spaces within the same switch terminal12 or equivalent. By assessing facets of the data, including but notlimited to, intervals between recorded sensor data, building occupantinteractions with interfaces, the movement of occupants, the localinstalled platforms can then construct two and optional threedimensional maps of the spaces observed by the switch terminal 12 orequivalent. The local installed platforms responsible for computingthese space relationship will take into consideration the evolvingcomposition of the switch 12 or system include the addition or removalof switch terminal 12 or equivalent, the nature of activity in theobserved spaces, the identified building occupant's manual inputs tointerfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 to adjust the state of adaptivecontrol systems, including but not limited to the level of illuminancein a space during any particular activity and continually improve theaccuracy of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent spatial mapping. As anon-limiting example this spatial map can be used by other localinstalled platforms to enhance the adaptive control system experienceprovided by the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminals 12 or equivalentsare members of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent and that system10 is connected to the Network Systems 25. One or more of the localinstalled platforms on one or more of the devices 18 can collect andoptionally summarize data received from sensors 15 integrated on one orany number of first party devices 18, data generated by a buildingoccupant interaction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent viainterfaces 20 on one or any number of the member devices, other similarfirst party devices 18, mobile devices 23. Network Systems devices 18,and third party devices 18. This can create a corpus of data upon whichthose local installed platforms can analyze and derive insights throughthe use of platform algorithms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the spatial relationships of oneobserved space to other observed spaces within the same switch terminal12 or equivalent.

By assessing facets of the data, including but not limited to, intervalsbetween recorded sensor data, building occupant interactions withinterfaces, the movement of occupants, the local installed platforms canthen construct two and optional three dimensional maps of the spacesobserved by the switch terminal 12 or equivalent. The local installedplatforms responsible for computing these space relationship will takeinto consideration the evolving composition of the switch system 72include the addition or removal of switch terminal 12 or equivalent, thenature of activity in the observed spaces, the identified buildingoccupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobile devices 23 toadjust the state of adaptive control systems, including but not limitedto the level of illuminance in a space during any particular activityand continually improve the accuracy of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent spatial mapping.

In one embodiment this spatial map is used by other local installedplatforms to enhance the adaptive control system experience provided bythe switch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent or equivalent canprovide remote learning on a cloud.

In one embodiment system terminal or equivalent can be used forilluminance levels.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalentincludes an ambient light sensor 15 and is connected to Network Systems25 via networking technologies 25 on the same device 18 or if thatswitch terminal 12 or equivalent is a member of a switch terminal 12 orequivalent, then can alternatively be connected to the Internet vianetworking technologies, such as Network System on other devices 18 inthe system 10, the local installed platforms 65 on the specific switchterminal 12 or equivalent to which the ambient light sensor isintegrated, or if that switch terminal 12 or equivalent is a member of aswitch terminal 12 or equivalent than the local installed platforms onany of the devices in that system can collect and optionally summarizeilluminance data from the ambient light sensor on the original device,data created by locally installed platforms on any device 18 in thesystem that relate to the state of the power provided to the electricallighting circuits 14 controlled by those devices, the loadcharacteristics of lighting loads attached to any circuit attached tosystem 10 element which is then transferred to a remote server to beanalyzed by a platform running on that remote machine or device 18intended to generate a mathematical relationship between the lightlevels perceived by the ambient light sensor 16 on the original device18 and the actual levels of light present in the space observed by theoriginal device.

Additionally, this same data and computational results can be used toinform local installed platforms on any member of the switch system ofthe actual lighting characteristics, including how much power relates tothe creation of how much light projected into the space is representedby any electrical lighting circuit connected to a switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of the switch terminal 12 or equivalent.After the computation of these new results has been completed on theremote server, these results are then transferred back to theoriginating switch device 18 via its own Network Systems 25 connection,or if present via the Network Systems 25 connection of another switchterminal 12 or equivalent that is a member of the same switch terminal12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent or equivalent can beused for lighting preferences.

In one embodiment, when a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent is thesole member of a switch terminal 12 or equivalent and that devicesconnected to Network Systems 25 via networking technologies 68 on thesame device, one or more of the local installed platforms on that device18 can collect and optionally summarize data received from sensors 15integrated into that device, data generated by a building occupant'sinteraction with the switch terminal 12 or equivalent system 10 viainterfaces 20, mobile devices 23, and data created by local installedplatforms to create a corpus of data which is then transferred to aremote server where platforms running on a remote machine can analyzeand derive insights through the use of platforms algorithms that improvethe local installed platforms accuracy in determining the relationshipbetween an occupant's or occupant's activity in a specific space andtheir desired the state of adaptive control systems, including but notlimited to the level of illumination in that space for a particularactivity.

In one embodiment the remote platforms responsible for computing thisrelationship can include the evolving nature of activity in an observedspace, the building occupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobiledevices 23 to adjust the level of illuminance in a space during anyparticular activity and continually improve the accuracy of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent ability to make the appropriaterecommendations for changes in the state of adaptive control systems,including but not limited to the illuminance relative to the occupant'sor occupants' activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement ofthe switch terminal 12 or equivalent performance in delivering theadaptive control system experience in apace observed by the switchterminal 12 or equivalent.

After the computation of these new results has been completed on theremote server, these results are then transferred back to theoriginating switch terminal 12 via its own Network Systems 25connection, or if present via the Network Systems 25 connection ofanother switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is a member of the sameswitch terminal 12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that connected toNetwork Systems 25 via networking technologies on the same device 18 orif that switch terminal 12 or equivalent is a member of a switchterminal 12 or equivalent, then can alternatively be connected to theInternet via Network System 25 on other devices 18 in the system 10, oneor more of the local installed platforms on one or more of the discretemember devices 18 can collect and optionally summarize data receivedfrom sensors 15 integrated on one or any number of the member devices,data generated by a building occupants interaction with the switchterminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any number of themember devices, other similar first party devices 14, mobile devices 23,Network Systems 25, devices 18, backend 17, cloud system 21 and servicesaccessible directly via a Network Systems 25, and data created by localinstalled platforms on one or more of the member devices in the switchterminal 12 or equivalent system 10 to create a corpus of data which isthen transferred to a remote server where platforms running on a remotemachine can analyze and derive insights through the use of platformsalgorithms that improve the local installed platforms accuracy indetermining the relationship between an occupant's or occupants'activity in a specific space and their desired state of adaptive controlsystems, including but not limited to the desired level of illuminationin that space for a particular activity.

The remote platforms responsible for computing this relationship willtake into consideration the evolving nature of activity in an observedspace, the building occupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobiledevices 23 to adjust the level of illuminance in a space during anyparticular activity and continually improve the accuracy of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent ability to make the appropriaterecommendations for the state of adaptive control systems, including butnot limited to the for illuminance relative to the occupant's oroccupants' activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement ofswitch terminal 12 or equivalent performance in delivering the adaptivecontrol system experience in a space observed by any member of theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent.

After the computation of these new results has been completed on theremote server, these results are then transferred back to theoriginating switch device 18 via its own Network Systems 25 connection,or if present via the Network Systems 25 connection of another switchterminal 12 or equivalent that is a member of the same switch terminal12 or equivalent.

In one embodiment, when one or more switch terminal 12 or equivalent aremembers of a single switch terminal 12 or equivalent that is connectedto Network Systems 25 via networking technologies 68 on the same device18 or if that switch terminal 12 or equivalent is a member of a switchterminal 12 or equivalent, then can alternatively be connected to theInternet via Network System 25 on other member devices in the system,one or more of the local installed platforms on one or more of thediscrete member devices can collect and optionally summarize datareceived from sensors 15 integrated on one or any number of the memberdevices, data generated by a building occupants interaction with theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent via interfaces 20 on one or any numberof the member devices, other similar first party devices 14, mobiledevices 23, Network Systems 25 devices 18, first party devices 18, thirdparty devices 18 or services and services accessible directly via aNetwork Systems 25, create a corpus of data which is then transferred toa server where platforms running on a machine can analyze and deriveinsights through the use of platforms that improve the local installedplatforms accuracy in determining the relationship between an occupant'sor occupants' activity in a specific space and their desired state ofadaptive control systems, including but not limited to the level ofillumination in that space for a particular activity.

The remote platforms responsible for computing this relationship willtake into consideration the evolving nature of activity in an observedspace, the building occupant's manual inputs to interfaces 20 and mobiledevices 23 to adjust the level of illuminance in a space during anyparticular activity and continually improve the accuracy of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent ability to make the appropriaterecommendations for changes in the state of adaptive control systems,including but not limited to the illuminance relative to the occupant'sor occupant's activity, thus resulting in the continual enhancement ofswitch terminal 12 or equivalent system performance in delivering theadaptive control system in a space observed by any member of the switchterminal 12 or equivalent. After the computation of these new resultshas been completed on the server, In one embodiment these results arethen transferred back to the originating switch terminal 12 orequivalent via its own Network Systems 25 connection, or if present viathe Network Systems 25 connection of another switch terminal 12 orequivalent that is a member of the same switch terminal 12 orequivalent.

Machine Learning Algorithm

As illustrated in FIG. 8 as a non-limiting example in one embodimentsystem 10 uses a machine intelligence system 100 for extractinginformation relative to building occupant switch terminal parameters. Inone embodiment system 100 is independent of system 10 and can be cloudbased, at a backend end of system 10, and the like. In anotherembodiment system 100 is integrated with system 10. In one embodimentsystem 10, with the use of system 100, uses a combination of a logicalinference with a statistical inference and then acts on a knowledge baseto provide the platforms changes in operational instructions.

The machine learning algorithms provide one or more instructions for theoperation of an adaptive control system relating to building automationrelative to at least one of building occupant switch terminalparameters. In one embodiment system 10 uses platforms that are used bysystem 10 to build platforms by extracting patterns from larger datasetsof a building occupant's patterns and behaviors relative to adaptivecontrols systems, including but not limited to load control devices andsystems 22. As non-limiting examples system 10 uses machine learninganalytics of one or more building occupants; for one or more of (i)learned types of activities a building occupant engages in as well thetype of light the occupant uses; (ii) learned types of activities abuilding occupant engages in as well the type of light the occupant useswithout the load control system 16; (iii) how many building occupantsare associated with a building 25, types of activities, the desired usefor those activities and devices 18, any or any kind of switch terminalactivates parameters or actions; extracting information relative abuilding occupant's behavior relative to load control systems 22 anddevices, for platforming, trends and behaviors of building occupantsrelative to switch terminals and any device 18 in a building,platforming, scoring building occupant data with platforms, forecastingand the like. In one embodiment system 100 maps parameters to an output.As a non-limiting example the platforms use observed parameters of abuilding occupant at switch terminal 12, or external to switch terminal12, to make a selection of a control law. When the expected output isknown, it is compared to an actual output from system 100. If theseoutputs match then we the selection is correct, and if not an erroroccurs, and the estimation of concept is updated. As a non-limitingexample system 100 handles each selected and/or desired parameter of abuilding occupant and provides a sequential output.

In one embodiment a database 27 stores the information created by abuilding occupant that can then be included in a platform that can beprovided in real time at the platforms center 110. In one embodiment thebuilding occupant behaviors and/or actions information database section120 stores relative building occupant behaviors and/or actionsinformation in a variety of different formats. In one embodiment thebuilding occupant behaviors and/or actions control learning unit 130offers a range of the building occupant behaviors and/or actionsinformation set from the building occupant behaviors and/or actionsinformation database unit 103. In one embodiment the building occupantbehaviors and/or actions learning control unit 130 may generate acontrol based on information that can distinguish between the normalstates or the abnormal state through the learning of building occupantbehaviors and/or actions activity in response to information input toone or more multi-layer neural network layers. In one embodiment thebuilding occupant behaviors and/or actions control learning unit 130receives building occupant behaviors and/or actions information in realtime, as well as updated information that are saved in the databasesection 120 with the updated information being used to update referenceinformation. As a non-limiting example this can be achieved for a setperiod of time, and the like. In addition, based on control informationit may include state information based on the reference information ofrelative building occupant behaviors and/or actions information, andbuilding automation. As a non-limiting example the building occupantbehaviors and/or actions learning unit 130 may include differentbuilding occupant behaviors and/or actions steps. In one embodiment thebuilding occupant behaviors and/or actions control learning unit 130includes features that can set the criterion to building occupantbehaviors and/or actions information input in real time and constantlyupdate by using the building occupant behaviors and/or actionsalgorithm. In one embodiment the building occupant behaviors and/oractions control analysis section 116 is accessed and evaluated. In oneembodiment the building occupant behaviors and/or actions control,analysis unit 116 may be generated in real time the building occupantbehaviors and/or actions control information and comparative analysis ofcontrol based on the information. Information and Control based oninformation or updates in real time storage, including the adaptivecontrol system status and zone status information 107.

As a non-limiting example the building occupant behaviors and/or actionscontrol, analysis unit 116 may obtain a building occupant behaviorsand/or actions control learning unit 130 using the results generatedthrough the state probabilities 0.0 to 1.0.

Example of an NTB Algorithm

In one embodiment an NTB algorithm is used to provide machine learninganalytics for extracting information relative to building occupantswitch terminal parameters as illustrated in FIG. 9.

In one embodiment system the algorithm builds platforms by extractingpatterns from larger datasets of a building occupant's patterns andbehaviors relative to a building occupant and a switch terminal 12. Asnon-limiting examples system 10 uses machine learning analytics of oneor more building occupants; for one or more of (i) learned types ofactivities a building occupant engages in as well the type of light theoccupant uses; (ii) learned types of activities a building occupantengages in as well the type of light the occupant uses without the loadcontrol system 16; (iii) how many building occupants are associated witha building 25, types of activities, the desired use for those activitiesand devices 18, any or any kind of switch terminal activates or actions;extracting information relative a building occupant's behavior relativeto load control systems 22 and devices, for platforming, trends andbehaviors of building occupants relative to switch terminals and anydevice 18 in a building, platforming, scoring building occupant datawith platforms, forecasting and the like.

In one embodiment the NTB algorithm divides a building 25 occupant'sentire behavioral data into a plurality of patches relative to switch,including but not limited to switch terminal 12 or equivalents anddevices, where each patch is modeled as a node in the error-freenetwork. In response to this an individual's behaviors, to provide humanactivity recognition, are modeled as a package transmission process inthe network. As a non-limiting example this can be a building occupantmoving from one patch to another patch relative to a switch terminal 12or equivalent can be modeled as a package transmitted from one node toanother. In this way, various machine learning behavior recognitionproblems can be transferred into the package transmission analysisproblem in the network.

As a non-limiting example the process of a building occupant movingamong patches as the energy consumed to transmit a package is modeled,the activities are detected with transmission energy features. As anon-limiting example, abnormal activities can be detected if itsenergies deviate from normal activity transmission energy by larger thana pre-trained threshold. As a non-limiting example this can be if abuilding occupant moves to an unusual patch, the energy used isincreased and this is detected as an abnormal activity. In this way, theabnormal detection problem can be modeled as the energy efficienttransmission problem in a network.

In one embodiment, the following actions are taken; (a) divide the sceneinto patches. (b) model each patch in (a) as a node in the network andthe edges between nodes are modeled as the activity correlation betweenthe corresponding patches. The red trajectory R (u, q) in (a) is modeledby the red package transmission route in (b). (Note that (b) can be afully connected network (i.e., each node has edges with all the othernodes in the network).

In one embodiment in order to ease the description only the fourneighboring edges are drawn for each node). Furthermore, besidesmodeling the correlation between the building occupant and the scene thenetwork-based model can also be easily extended for handling theinteraction among people.

In one embodiment a relative network can be structured where onebuilding occupant is always located in the center of the network and themovement of another building occupant can be modeled as the packagetransmission process in this “relative” network based on his relativemovement to the network-center building occupant. In this way, theinteraction among people can also be effectively recognized byevaluating different transmission energies in the network-based model.

In one embodiment the DT energy (activity correlation) is calculated andthen an analysis is performed.

In one embodiment of the NTB algorithm modeling is performed as a nodein a network. Activity correlations estimated based on the training dataand these activity correlations can be used as the edge values in thenetwork.

With these nodes and edges, the networks can be constructed. At the sametime, the activity detection rules are also derived from a buildingoccupant's data for detecting activities of interest during the testingprocess. In the testing process, after obtaining trajectories of people(which represent activities); their corresponding transmission energiesare first calculated based on the constructed network.

These transmission energies are analyzed and the activity detectionrules can be applied for detecting the activities. Furthermore, severalthings need to be mentioned about the NTB algorithm. Although there areother works trying to segment the scene into parts for activityrecognition, the NTB algorithm is different from them in; (a) the NTBalgorithm for a building occupant's behavior is constructed with apackage transmission network over the patches while other works usegraphical models for recognition. While the fixed structures of thegraphical models may limit their ability to handle various unexpectedcases the fully-connected transmission network is more general andflexible for handling various scenarios.

In one embodiment of activity rules an implementation can be differentfor different activity recognition scenarios. In one embodiment the NTBalgorithm is utilized in abnormal event or scene-related activitydetection, and group activity recognition. In one embodiment the NTBalgorithm in abnormal event detects abnormal activities, including butnot limited to a building occupant following irregular parameters and abuilding occupant moving.

In one embodiment the NTB algorithm divides the scene into parameters.

In one embodiment a building occupant activity or action is calculatedas follows:

Let R (u, q) be the building occupant trajectory of the current activitywith u being the starting patch and q being the building occupant'scurrent patch. Also define the Direct Transmission (DT) energy for theedge between patches i and j as e(i, j) (i.e., the energy used bydirectly transmitting a package from patch i to j without passingthrough other patches, as can be described in detail in the nextsub-section). The total transmission energy for the trajectory R can becalculated by accumulating the DT energies of all patch pairs in thetrajectory, as in

${E\left( {u,q} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{{({i,j})} \in {R{({u,q})}}}{e\left( {i,j} \right)}}$

As a non-limiting example the total transmission energy R (u, q) equalsto e (u, m)+e (m, n)+e (n, q). C. The he DT energy (activitycorrelation) is calculated between patches. The edges between nodes inthe network are modeled by the Direct Transmission (DT) energy betweenpatches. In order to calculate the DT energy, an activity correlation ACis introduced between patches. When there are high chances for people toperform activities between two patches i and j (e.g., move across i andj), a high correlation AC (i, j) appears between these patches.Otherwise, a low correlation is. The activity correlation can becalculated by:

Thus, the activity correlation can be calculated by:

${{AC}\left( {i,j} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{k}{{tw}_{k}\left( {i,j} \right)}}$

Where AC (i, j) is the activity correlation between patches i and j, twk(i, j) is the correlation impact weight between i and j from the k-thtrajectory in the training data. From this equation the activitycorrelation AC (i, j) is the summation of correlation impact weights twk(i, j) from the training trajectories. If more training trajectoriesindicate a high correlation between patches i and j, a large activitycorrelation AC (i, j) can be calculated. With the definition of AC (i,j), the DT energy e (i, j) between patches can be calculated by:e(i,j)=1/AC(i,j)

From this equation the DT energy is inversely proportional to theactivity correlation. That is, when the activity correlation value AC(i, j) are larger between patches i and j, it implies that a “higher”activity correlation will appear between the patches, resulting in a“lower” DT energy. In this way normal activities (normally go acrosshigh-correlation patches) can result in smaller total energies. In oneembodiment the correlation impact weights twk (i, j) are the key partsfor calculating the DT energies.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides for adaptivedimming.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent makes all ofdecisions with its back-end without requiring the connection to cloud21.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides for anadaptive building.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent is used for security.As non-limiting examples, this can be achieved using one or more ofusing: motion, s. Network System 25 connections, and the light toprovide building 25 monitoring which is based, in one embodiment on loadcontrol devices 18.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent can be used forambient assisted living.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent can used as a“Concierge” for an on star for a building 25. In one embodiment switchterminal 12 or equivalent can be used intercom via the light switch

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent can be used for anynumber of different Apps/Services that are run locally or on the cloud.Whether run locally or via the cloud.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent can be used auto dimfor sleep.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides learningmethods and systems for a building.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides lightingpreferences.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides forilluminance levels.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides for lightingbased on rules derived from machine learning.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides buildingoccupant persona identification.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent provides building 25space mapping.

As a non-limiting example, one embodiment of a cloud system isillustrated in FIGS. 10(a)-(e).

The cloud based system 21 includes a third party service provider thatcan concurrently service requests from several clients without buildingoccupant perception of degraded computing performance as compared toconventional techniques where computational tasks can be performed upona client or a server within a proprietary intranet. Alternative system10 back end includes the elements and functions of cloud system 21.

The third party service provider (e.g., “cloud”) supports 17 acollection of hardware and/or software resources. The hardware and/orsoftware resources can be maintained by an off-premises party, and theresources can be accessed and utilized by identified building occupantsover Network Systems. Resources provided by the third party serviceprovider can be centrally located and/or distributed at variousgeographic locations. For example, the third party service provider caninclude any number of data center machines that provide resources. Thedata center machines can be utilized for storing/retrieving data,effectuating computational tasks, rendering graphical outputs, routingdata, and so forth.

In one embodiment, the third party service provider can provide anynumber of resources such as servers, CPU's, data storage services,computational services, word processing services, electronic mailservices, presentation services, spreadsheet services, web syndicationservices (e.g., subscribing to a RSS feed), and any other services orapplications that are conventionally associated with personal computersand/or local servers. Further, utilization of any number of third partyservice providers 17 similar to the third party service provider iscontemplated. According to an illustration, disparate third partyservice providers can be maintained by differing off-premise parties anda building occupant can employ, concurrently, at different times, andthe like, all or a subset of the third party service providers

By leveraging resources supported by the third party service provider,limitations commonly encountered with respect to hardware associatedwith clients and servers within proprietary intranets can be mitigated.Off-premises parties, instead of building occupants of clients ornetwork administrators of servers within proprietary intranets, canmaintain, troubleshoot, replace and update the hardware resources.Further, for example, lengthy downtimes can be mitigated by the thirdparty service provider utilizing redundant resources; thus, if a subsetof the resources are being updated or replaced, the remainder of theresources can be utilized to service requests from building occupants.According to this example, the resources can be modular in nature, andthus, resources can be added, removed, tested, modified, etc. while theremainder of the resources can support servicing building occupantrequests. Moreover, hardware resources supported by the third partyservice provider can encounter fewer constraints with respect tostorage, processing power, security, bandwidth, redundancy, graphicaldisplay rendering capabilities. etc. as compared to conventionalhardware associated with clients and servers within proprietaryintranets.

The cloud based system can include a client device 18 that employsresources of the third party service provider 17. Although one clientdevice 18 is depicted, it is to be appreciated that the cloud basedsystem can include any number of client devices similar to the clientdevice, and the plurality of client devices can concurrently utilizesupported resources. By way of illustration, the client device 18 can bea desktop device 18 (e.g., personal computer), motion/movement/gesturedetection device, and the like. Further, the client device 18 is anembedded system that can be physically limited, and hence, it can bebeneficial to leverage resources of the third party service provider 17.

Resources can be shared amongst a plurality of client devicessubscribing to the third party service provider 17. According to anillustration, one of the resources can be at least one centralprocessing unit (CPU), where CPU cycles can be employed to effectuatecomputational tasks requested by the client device. Pursuant to thisillustration, the client device can is allocated a subset of an overalltotal number of CPU cycles, while the remainder of the CPU cycles can beallocated to disparate client device(s). Additionally or alternatively,the subset of the overall total number of CPU cycles allocated to theclient device can vary over time. Further, a number of CPU cycles can bepurchased by the building occupant of the client device. In accordancewith another example, the resources can include data store(s) that canbe employed by the client device to retain data. The building occupantemploying the client device can have access to a portion of the datastore(s) supported by the third party service provider 17, while accesscan be denied to remaining portions of the data store(s) (e.g., the datastore(s) can selectively mask memory based upon building occupant/deviceidentity, permissions, and the like). It is contemplated that anyadditional types of resources can likewise be shared.

The third party service provider can further include an interfacecomponent that can receive input(s) from the client device and/or enabletransferring a response to such input(s) to the client device (as wellas perform similar communications with any disparate client devices).According to an example, the input(s) can be request(s), data,executable platform(s), etc. For instance, request(s) from the clientdevice can relate to effectuating a computational task,storing/retrieving data, rendering a building occupant interface, andthe like via employing one or more resources. Further, the interfacecomponent can obtain and/or transmit data over a network connection. Asan illustration, executable code can be received and/or sent by theinterface component over the network connection. Pursuant to anotherexample, a building occupant (e.g. employing the client device) canissue commands via the interface component.

The cloud 21 provides for analysis of switch terminal parameters.

Moreover, the third party service provider includes a dynamic allocationcomponent that apportions resources (e.g., hardware resource(s))supported by the third party service provider to process and respond tothe input(s) (e.g., request(s), data, executable platform(s) and thelike) obtained from the client device.

Although the interface component is depicted as being separate from thedynamic allocation component, it is contemplated that the dynamicallocation component can include the interface component or a portionthereof. The interface component can provide various adaptors,connectors, channels, communication paths. etc. to enable interactionwith the dynamic allocation component.

FIGS. 11-13 illustrate one embodiment of a mobile device 23 that can beused with the present invention.

The switch terminal 12 or equivalent 18 can include a display that canbe a touch sensitive display. The touch-sensitive display is sometimescalled a “touch screen” for convenience, and may also be known as orcalled a touch-sensitive display system. The switch terminal 12 orequivalent 18 may include a memory (which may include one or morecomputer readable storage mediums), a memory controller, one or moreprocessing units (CPU's), a peripherals interface, Network Systemscircuitry, including but not limited to RF circuitry, audio circuitry, aspeaker, a microphone, an input/output (I/O) subsystem, other input orcontrol devices, and an external port. The switch terminal 12 orequivalent 18 may include one or more optical sensors. These componentsmay communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines.

It should be appreciated that the switch terminal 12 or equivalent 18 isonly one example of a portable multifunction switch terminal 12 orequivalent, and that the switch terminal 12 or equivalent 18 may havemore or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components,or a may have a different configuration or arrangement of thecomponents. The various components may be implemented in hardware,software or a combination of hardware and software, including one ormore signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

Memory may include high-speed random access memory and may also includenon-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices,flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices.Access to memory by other components of the switch terminal 12 orequivalent, such as the CPU and the peripherals interface, may becontrolled by the memory controller.

The peripherals interface couples the input and output peripherals ofthe device 18 to the CPU and memory. The one or more processors run orexecute various software platforms and/or sets of instructions stored inmemory to perform various functions for the switch terminal 12 orequivalent 18 and to process data.

In some embodiments, the peripherals interface, the CPU, and the memorycontroller may be implemented on a single chip, such as a chip. In someother embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

The Network System circuitry receives and sends signals, including butnot limited to RF, also called electromagnetic signals. The NetworkSystem circuitry converts electrical signals to/from electromagneticsignals and communicates with communications Network Systems and othercommunications devices via the electromagnetic signals. The NetworkSystems circuitry may include well-known circuitry for performing thesefunctions, including but not limited to an antenna system, an RFtransceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, adigital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, a subscriber identity module(SIM) card, memory, and so forth. The Network Systems circuitry maycommunicate with Network Systems and other devices by wirelesscommunication.

The wireless communication may use any of a plurality of communicationsstandards, protocols and technologies, including but not limited toGlobal System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Enhanced Data GSMEnvironment (EDGE), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), widebandcode division multiple access (W-CDMA), code division multiple access(CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA). BLUETOOTH®. WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b. IEEE 802.11g and/orIEEE 802.11n), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Wi-MAX, a protocolfor email (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and/or postoffice protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensible messagingand presence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol for InstantMessaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), and/or InstantMessaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service(SMS)), or any other suitable communication protocol, includingcommunication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of thisdocument.

The audio circuitry, the speaker, and the microphone provide an audiointerface between a building occupant and the switch terminal 12 orequivalent. The audio circuitry receives audio data from the peripheralsinterface, converts the audio data to an electrical signal, andtransmits the electrical signal to the speaker. The speaker converts theelectrical signal to human-audible sound waves. The audio circuitry alsoreceives electrical signals converted by the microphone from soundwaves. The audio circuitry converts the electrical signal to audio dataand transmits the audio data to the peripherals interface forprocessing. Audio data may be retrieved from and/or transmitted tomemory and/or the Network Systems circuitry by the peripheralsinterface. The I/O subsystem couples input/output peripherals on theswitch terminal 12 or equivalent, such as the touch screen and otherinput/control devices, to the peripherals interface. The I/O subsystemmay include a display controller and one or more input controllers forother input or control devices. The one or more input controllersreceive/send electrical signals from/to other input or control devices.The other input/control devices may include physical buttons (e.g., pushbuttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, and joysticks,click wheels, and so forth. In some alternate embodiments, inputcontroller(s) may be coupled to any (or none) of the following: akeyboard, infrared port, USB port, and a pointer device 18 such as amouse. The one or more buttons may include an up/down button for lightcontrol of the dimmer, volume control of the speaker and/or themicrophone. The one or more buttons may include a push button. A quickpress of the push button may disengage a lock of the touch screen orbegin a process that uses gestures on the touch screen to unlock thedevice, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549,“Unlocking a Device 18 by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image.” filedDec. 23, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety. A longer press of the push button may turn power to thecomputing device 18 on or off. The building occupant may be able tocustomize a functionality of one or more of the buttons. The touchscreen is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more softkeyboards.

The touch-sensitive sensor or touch screen provides an input interfaceand an output interface between the devices and a building occupant. Thedisplay controller receives and/or sends electrical signals from/to thetouch screen. The touch screen displays visual output to the buildingoccupant. The visual output may include graphics, text, icons, video,and any combination thereof (collectively termed “graphics”). In someembodiments, some or all of the visual output may correspond to buildingoccupant-interface objects, further details of which are describedbelow.

A touch screen has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensorsthat accepts input from the building occupant based on haptic and/ortactile contact. The touch screen and the display controller (along withany associated modules and/or sets of instructions in memory) detectcontact (and any movement or breaking of the contact) on the touchscreen and converts the detected contact into interaction with buildingoccupant-interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, webpages or images) that are displayed on the touch screen. In an exemplaryembodiment, a point of contact between a touch screen and the buildingoccupant corresponds to a finger of the building occupant.

The touch screen may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, or LPD(light emitting polymer display) technology, although other displaytechnologies may be used in other embodiments. The touch screen and thedisplay controller may detect contact and any movement or breakingthereof using any of a plurality of touch sensing technologies now knownor later developed, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive,infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as otherproximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or morepoints of contact with a touch screen.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the touch screen may beanalogous to the multi-touch sensitive tablets described in thefollowing U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S. Pat. No.6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932(Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1 each of whichis hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. However, a touchscreen displays visual output from the portable switch terminal 12 orequivalent, whereas touch sensitive tablets do not provide visualoutput.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of the touch screen may beas described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May12, 2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/816,862, “MultipointTouchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30,2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,254. “Gestures ForTouch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical Building occupantInterfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices.” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6)U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,758. “Virtual Input DevicePlacement On A Touch Screen Building occupant Interface.” filed Sep. 16,2005; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,700. “Operation Of AComputer With A Touch Screen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of ATouch-Screen Virtual Keyboard.” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,”filed Mar. 3, 2006. All of these applications are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

The touch screen display may have a resolution in excess of 1000 dpi. Inan exemplary embodiment, the touch screen has a resolution ofapproximately 1020 dpi. The building occupant may make contact with thetouch screen using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, afinger, and so forth. In some embodiments, the building occupantinterface is designed to work primarily with finger-based contacts,which are much less precise than stylus-based input due to the largerarea of contact of a finger on the touch screen. In some embodiments,the device translates the rough finger-based input into a precisepointer/cursor position or command for performing the actions desired bythe building occupant.

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen or instead of atouch screen, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent may include atouchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particularfunctions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive areaof the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visualoutput. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separatefrom the touch screen or an extension of the touch-sensitive surfaceformed by the touch screen.

In some embodiments, the switch terminal 12 or equivalent may include aphysical or virtual click wheel as an input control device. A buildingoccupant may navigate among and interact with one or more graphicalobjects (henceforth referred to as icons) displayed in the touch screenby rotating the click wheel or by moving a point of contact with theclick wheel (e.g., where the amount of movement of the point of contactis measured by its angular displacement with respect to a center pointof the click wheel). The click wheel may also be used to select one ormore of the displayed icons. For example, the building occupant maypress down on at least a portion of the click wheel or an associatedbutton. Building occupant commands and navigation commands provided bythe building occupant via the click wheel may be processed by an inputcontroller as well as one or more of the modules and/or sets ofinstructions in memory. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel andclick wheel controller may be part of the touch screen and the displaycontroller, respectively. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel maybe either an opaque or semitransparent object that appears anddisappears on the touch screen display in response to building occupantinteraction with the device. In some embodiments, a virtual click wheelis displayed on the touch screen of a portable multifunction device andoperated by building occupant contact with the touch screen.

The switch terminal 12 or equivalent also includes a power system forpowering the various components. The power system may include a powermanagement system, one or more power sources (e.g., battery, alternatingcurrent (AC)), a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, apower converter or inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., alight-emitting diode (LED)) and any other components associated with thegeneration, management and distribution of power in portable devices.

The switch terminal 12 or equivalent may also include one or moresensors, including not limited to optical sensors. In one embodiment anoptical sensor is coupled to an optical sensor controller in I/Osubsystem. The optical sensor may include charge-coupled device (CCD) orcomplementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors. Theoptical sensor receives light from the environment, projected throughone or more lens, and converts the light to data representing an image.In conjunction with an imaging module (also called a camera module); theoptical sensor may capture still images or video. In some embodiments,an optical sensor is located on the front of the device so that thebuilding occupant's image may be obtained for videoconferencing whilethe building occupant views the other video conference participants onthe touch screen display. In some embodiments, the position of theoptical sensor can be changed by the building occupant (e.g., byrotating the lens and the sensor in the device housing) so that a singleoptical sensor may be used along with the touch screen display for bothvideo conferencing and still and/or video image acquisition.

The switch terminal 12 or equivalent may also include one or moreproximity sensors. In one embodiment, the proximity sensor is coupled tothe peripherals interface. Alternately, the proximity sensor may becoupled to an input controller in the I/O subsystem. The proximitysensor may perform as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/241,839. “Proximity Detector In Handheld Device.” filed Sep. 30,2005; Ser. No. 11/216,788, “Proximity Detector In Handheld Device,”filed Sep. 30, 2005; Ser. No. 13/096,386. “Using Ambient Light Sensor ToAugment Proximity Sensor Output”; Ser. No. 13/096,386. “AutomatedResponse To And Sensing Of Building occupant Activity In PortableDevices,” filed Oct. 24, 2006; and Ser. No. 11/638,251, “Methods AndSystems For Automatic Configuration Of Peripherals,” which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety. In some embodiments, theproximity sensor turns off and disables the touch screen when thebuilding occupants are not near the device 18.

In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory mayinclude an operating system, a communication module (or set ofinstructions), a contact/motion module (or set of instructions), agraphics module (or set of instructions), a text input module (or set ofinstructions), a Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set ofinstructions), and applications (or set of instructions).

The operating system (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, oran embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various softwarecomponents and/or drivers for controlling and managing general systemtasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, powermanagement, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardwareand software components.

The communication module facilitates communication with other devicesover one or more external ports and also includes various softwarecomponents for handling data received by the Network Systems circuitryand/or the external port. The external port (e.g., Universal Serial Bus(USB), FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devicesor indirectly over Network System.

The contact/motion module may detect contact with the touch screen (inconjunction with the display controller) and other touch sensitivedevices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). The contact/motionmodule includes various software components for performing variousoperations related to detection of contact, such as determining ifcontact has occurred, determining if there is movement of the contactand tracking the movement across the touch screen, and determining ifthe contact has been broken (i.e., if the contact has ceased).Determining movement of the point of contact may include determiningspeed (magnitude), velocity (magnitude and direction), and/or anacceleration (a change in magnitude and/or direction) of the point ofcontact. These operations may be applied to single contacts (e.g., onefinger contacts) or to multiple simultaneous contacts (e.g.,“multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). In some embodiments, thecontact/motion module and the display controller also detect contact ona touchpad. In some embodiments, the contact/motion module and thecontroller detects contact on a click wheel.

Examples of other applications that may be stored in memory includeother word processing applications, JAVA-enabled applications,encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition, and voicereplication.

As illustrated in FIG. 14 in one embodiment an antenna 210, which as anon-limiting example can be a dual-band slot antenna 210, is integratedand/or coupled to the electrical circuit 28, which as a non-limitingexample can be a printed circuit board 28, of the computing device 14which includes at least two radio circuits 218 and 220 to provide anetwork interface to switch terminal 10.

In one embodiment the electrical circuit 28 is coupled to a metal frame212 with fasteners 214. Electrical contact is made only at definedpoints between the metal frame 210 and the electrical circuit 28. In oneembodiment the slot antenna 210 is void of all metal except at a feedpoint 216.

In one embodiment the functional dual-band slot antenna 210 providestuning and VSWR performance depend on other components in system 10.

As a non-limiting example antenna 210 can be used by first and secondindependent radio circuits 218 and 220 simultaneously that can beincluded in computer 14. As a non-limiting example this is achieved byusing a diplexer circuit 222, which can be an RF diplexer circuit. As anon-limiting example the diplexer circuit 222 can be a combination oflow pass/high pass filters 224. As a non-limiting example the diplexercircuit 222 can significantly attenuate signals from opposing radiocircuits 218 and 220. FIG. 15, with associated receivers.

In one embodiment the diplexer circuit 220 conditions the signal bysplitting the incoming signal into low and high frequency bands at theappropriate energy levels for the receivers of radio circuits 218 and220.

In one embodiment the diplexer circuit 22 includes two or more filters224 that can that can: (i) protect one radio circuit receiver from thetransmission power of the other radio circuit receiver and (ii) preventout-of-band noise received by an antenna from reaching the receiver ofeach radio circuit 218 and 220. In one embodiment one filter 224 is alow pass filter, and a second filter 224 is a high pass filter.

In one embodiment the two or more filters 224 of diplexer circuit 222help condition the incoming signal for each associated receiver of radiocircuits 218 and 220. In one embodiment the feed point 216 to antenna210 is connected to a common terminal of the diplexer circuit 222.

As a non-limiting example the receivers of radio circuits 218 and 220can be utilized for any frequency. As a non-limiting example thefrequencies of the radio circuits 218 and 220 can be in the range of 20MHz-300 MHz. In one specific example the frequencies of the radiocircuits 218 and 220 can be 915 MHz and 2.4 GHz respectively. In oneembodiment one of the filters 224 is a low pass filter and the secondfilter 224 is a high pass signal.

As a non-limiting example the low pass filter 224 is positioned betweenantenna 210 and radio circuit 218 and the high pass filter 224 ispositioned between antenna 210 and radio circuit 220. As a non-limitingexample this provides isolation, prevents damage to the radio circuits218 and 220 from a transmit power of the other radio.

As illustrated in FIG. 16 a power management system, which can be apower supply system 32 (hereafter power management system 32) and powermonitoring system 40, which can be circuitry are provided. In oneembodiment each switch terminal 12 has at least a plurality of wiringterminals 312. Because there is no specific configuration of the wiringterminals 312 to a specific wiring element/circuit 314, the powermanagement system 32 and power monitoring system 40 can be said to beinterchangeable, and a wiring terminal 312 element can beinterchangeable with a wiring element 314. The switch terminal 12 iscoupled to the electrical system (circuit) 28 of a building 25 byconnecting the wiring elements 314 of the building 25 to the wiringterminals 312 of the switch terminal 12.

In one embodiment power management system 32 can include an AC/DCconverter 316, a variable resistance control system (MOSFET) 318, ananalog front end 320 and MCU 34. In one embodiment the power monitoringcircuit 312 monitors the power characteristics and can utilize MCU 34.In one embodiment the power monitoring circuit 312 is an analog frontend.

As illustrated in FIG. 17 in one embodiment switch terminal 12 includesa plurality of wiring terminals 312. In one embodiment the plurality ofwiring terminals are at an exterior of the switch terminal 12. In oneembodiment the plurality of wiring terminals are at a back surface ofthe switch terminal 12. In one embodiment the wiring elements 314 of anelectrical circuit 28 can be coupled to a back end or at an exteriorsurface back end of switch terminal 12. The wiring terminals 312 areconfigured to be connected to the wiring of the lighting circuit. Thereis no set configuration connection of a wiring element 314 to a specificelement of a wiring terminal 312.

In one embodiment there is no singular and specific configuration ofwhich wiring terminal 312 is connected to a wiring element 314(circuits). This is in contrast to existing switch terminals 12.Interchangeable means that the wiring element configuration to switchterminal 12 does not matter. It does not matter which wiring element 314(circuit) is connected to which wiring terminal 312 irrespective oforder as long as there are the correct number of wiring elements 314 isconnected irrespective of the order.

As a non-limiting example the input an AC voltage waveform to run theswitch terminal's electronics is rectified on DC voltage. When AC lineterminals feed independent bridge rectifiers the circuit can then usewhichever of them has AC line power connected to it to generate the DCpower for the rest of system 10. As a non-limiting example each MOSFET318 is essentially a solid state switch between the two AC Lineterminals and they do not care which wiring terminal 312 is input andwhich output is.

In one embodiment four wiring elements 314 and two line wiring elements314 are provided. One is connected to power management system 32 andanother is connected to the electrical load. A neutral wiring element314 is connected to the common power wiring elements 314 of the circuitand a ground wiring element 314. In another embodiment three wiringelements 314 and two line wiring elements 314 are provided. One isconnected to the power management system 32 and another connected to theelectrical load. A ground wiring element 314 is provided. In anotherembodiment a specific configuration is similarly not required but onlythat the type of wiring element 314 be connected to the appropriate typeof wiring terminal element of a wiring terminal 312. In this embodimentground wiring elements 314 are connected to a ground terminal, linewiring elements 314 are connected to line terminals of a wiring terminal312 and neutral wiring elements 314 are connected to neutral terminalsof wiring terminal 312, but the specific connection of wiring elements314 with the specific terminals of wiring terminal 312 these types doesnot matter. The plurality of wiring elements 314, circuits, manipulatethe energy so that the switch terminal 12 is powered. Because there isno specific configuration of a wiring terminal 312 to a wiring element(circuit) 314 the wiring terminals 312 and wiring elements 314 areinterchangeable and there is not set configuration of a wiring element314 to terminals of a wiring terminal 312. This provides forinterchangeability of wiring elements 314 to elements of a wiringterminal 312.

This makes it easy for a building occupant to connect the switchterminal 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 18 In one embodiment one or more switch terminals12 includes or is coupled to a motion and or person presence detector,interface, sensor and the like (hereafter collectively “motion detectionsensor 410”. As a non-limiting example motion detection sensor 410 isused for security purposes of building 25. In one embodiment motiondetection sensor 410 is used to detect different types of humanmovement, presence and human identification. As non-limiting examplesmotion detection sensors 410 can be used for local event sensing, areasensing and the like.

In one embodiment motion detection sensor 410 can be used to detectionof unauthorized entry, detection of cessation of occupancy of an area toextinguish lighting, and detection of a moving object which triggers acamera to record subsequent events and the like. In one embodimentswitch terminal 12 is coupled with platforms on the computing device 14and configured to detect anomalies as they relate to the entirety of thebuilding 25 as a whole or as individual zones. A building occupant canconfigure which zones are being observed. Individual trigger settingsand rules can be specified for each of these internal zones to allow fordifferential treatment of anomalous behaviors within specific zones orthe building 25 as a whole.

In one embodiment the motion detection sensor 410 is a motion detectionsensor 410. As used herein motion detection sensor 410 is any kind ofsensing system which is used to detect motions; motion of any object orhuman as well as presence of a human in a certain area of building 25.In one embodiment a motion detection sensor 410 is a device that detectsthe physical movement in a given area/designated locations and ittransforms motion into an electric signal. In one embodiment the system10 with motion detection sensor 410 provides an indication that somecondition has changed. In one embodiment all motion detection sensors410 have some ‘normal’ state. Some motion detection sensors 410 onlyreport when the ‘normal’ status is disturbed, others also report whenthe condition reverts to ‘normal’.

In one embodiment one or more platforms within computing device 14determine if the signals received by a motion detection sensor 410represent an anomaly relative to a known acceptable pattern and identifythat anomaly to the platforms for handling by their logic and thecapabilities and/or connections of the system 10. As a non-limitingexample the system 10 using motion detection sensor 410 indicates thatsome condition has changed.

As non-limiting examples motion detection sensor 410 can include but isnot limited to: infrared (passive and active sensors); optics (video andcamera systems); radio frequency energy (radar, microwave andtomographic motion detection); sound (microphones and acoustic sensors);vibration (triboelectric, seismic, and inertia-switch sensors; magnetism(magnetic sensors and magnetometers), ); vibration (triboelectric,seismic, and inertia-switch sensors); magnetism (magnetic sensors andmagnetometers); visible/infrared light(LED/Laser) beam; contact switch;piezoelectric sensors; ultrasonic, motion detection sensors; footstepdetection; microwave Doppler sensors; sonar; echolocation and the like.

As a non-limiting example one or more algorithms can be used to compareone sensed motion, presence and like, to a base value that can be in adatabase, including but not limited to database 27 which can be locatedor in cloud system 21.

As non-limiting examples motion detection sensor 410 can: generate somestimulus and sensing its reflection; sense some signals generated by anobject, and the like.

In one embodiment when motion is detected motion detection sensor 410generates an electrical signal based on which some actions are taken.

In one embodiment motion detection sensor 410 is coupled to an alarmdevice or system 414. In one embodiment a trigger signal from motiondetection sensor 410 is transmitted to one or more control unit(s) 416either through wires or wireless (radio, line carrier, infrared and thelike).

As a non-limiting example the alarm output can be local, remote or acombination. As a non-limiting example alarm device or system canconnect to server at a central station or first responder (e.g.police/fire/medical) via a direct phone wire, a cellular network, aradio network (i.e. GPRS/GSM), or an IP path.

In various embodiments the alarm device or system can be lights that canbe flashed; a sound can be emitted; an alarmed activated; a signalprovided to another system for response including but not limited tolocking the doors, windows and the like; activating another systemsresponse; a signal can be sent to a remote system, e.g., cloud systemfor handling to include the triggering of a response by an autonomoussystem or a human monitored system for intervention by that monitor.

In one embodiment the alarm device or system can be coupled to NetworkSystem 25 to deliver a detection of the anomaly to a server which can bein the cloud system 21, a local building 25 server and the like.

In one embodiment motion detection sensor 410 gathers data of motion. Aprocessor processes the motion data gathered by the motion detectionsensor 410. An executing interface can be provided that is capable oftwo-way transferring the sensed data between the processor and storagewhich can be a local or non-local database. As a non-limiting examplestorage can provide for: false positive detection and; storing forreceiving the data being calculated by algorithms through amicroprocessor that can be included in computing device 14, cloud systemand the like.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 or equivalent, computer system 14,one or more sensors 15 with one or more switch terminal parametersrelative to the building 25, are utilized for controlling lighting inall or a selection section of building 25 provides for selectingdifferent lighting conditions consistent with a building occupant'scircadian rhythm. As a non-limiting example n all or a portion ofbuilding 25 for different activities, including but not limited tosleep, for different times of the day.

Circadian rhythm disorders are disruptions in a person's circadianrhythm—a name given to the “internal body clock” that regulates the(approximately) 24-hour cycle of biological processes. There arepatterns of brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration,and other biological activities linked to this 24-hour cycle.

The circadian rhythm is important in determining sleeping patterns suchas when we sleep and when we wake, every 24 hours. The normal circadianclock is set by the light-dark cycle over 24 hours.

As a non-limiting example, wavelengths for “blue” light can keep thepineal gland from releasing melatonin, thus warding off sleepiness. Ifenough blue light hits the eye, the gland can stop releasing melatonin.So easing into bed with a tablet or a laptop makes it harder to take along snooze, especially for sleep-deprived teenagers who are morevulnerable to the effects of light than adults.

As a non-limiting example a building occupant switch terminal parameterthe learning switch terminal parameter for a person from system 10,provides an understanding of historical patterns of the a buildingoccupants preferred amount of light for a given instance of humanoccupancy in a space in a coincident set of contextual factors.Historical data, current activates, presence, building occupant intent,type of space, time of day, connection of movement of a buildingoccupant from one space to another in order to provide a profferedamount of light for functional purposes, this can include psychologicaland health related matters

Additionally the building occupant switch terminal parameter is used toidentify the actual building occupant and provide for suitable lightingconditions relative to that building occupant's normal circadian clock.

As illustrated in FIG. 19 in one embodiment one or more switch terminals12 includes wiring components 30 that are secured to circuitry wiring 31without screw terminals or fixed friction connect terminals. In oneembodiment all or a portion of switch terminals 12 include a lockingmechanism 512 that couples wiring components 30 securely to circuitrywiring 31 without external live points of contact, e.g., external livepoints of contact including but not limited to screw terminals and thelike. Locking mechanism 512 provides for quick capture and release. Inthis embodiment the circuitry wiring 31 is isolated internally to switchterminal 12 without external points of live contact. In one embodimentthis is achieved without the use of a tool and is non-destructive tocircuitry wiring 31 which can be inserted, removed, reinserted and thelike A person can insert the wiring components 30 into the switchterminal 12 via exposed openings at the external housing of the switchterminal 12.

A circuitry wiring 31 enters a channel of switch terminal 12 and engageswith the locking mechanism 512 that first releases to allow the wiringcomponent 30 to make contact with the enclosed circuitry wiring 31. Oncethe contact has been achieved locking mechanism 512 locks the wiringcomponents 30 into contact with the circuitry wiring 31.

In one embodiment locking mechanism 512 is a mechanical element,magnetic element, electrical element and the like. In one embodimentlock mechanism 512 can be spring loaded. As a non-limiting examplelocking mechanism 512 keeps the wiring components 30 and circuit wiring31 in contact with one another and resists the decoupling of thatcontact that could result from the circuit wiring 31 being pulled out ofswitch terminal 12. This can be repeated for any and all of the requiredcouplings needed to power the switch terminal 12.

If the building occupant desires to decouple the contact the buildingoccupant can activate locking mechanism 512 that is external to theswitch terminal 12 to release the coupling of wiring components 30 andlocking mechanism, e.g., circuit wiring 31. The locking mechanismdeactivates the locking elements allowing the wiring components 31 to bepulled out of the switch terminal 12. This removal is achieved withoutthe destroying the circuit wiring 31 allowing it to be re-inserted inthe same or another opening to achieve the coupling. In one embodimentlocking mechanism 512 provides a pivot element 514 with a pivot point516, a release mechanism 518, and a pivoted bar 520, including but notlimited to a Pawl, coupled to the pivot element 514. A spring element522 can be configured to act on pivot element 514. As a non-limitingexample the pivoted bar 520 is adapted to engage with the circuitrywiring 31. As non-limiting examples the engagement can be by teeth 524or other engagement devices to prevent movement and/or to impart motion.In one embodiment the locking mechanism is sliding element, a button,and the like to interact with the pivot element.

As illustrated in FIG. 20 in one embodiment in response to system 10,more particularly one or more building occupant switch terminalparameters and the one or more sensors 15, knowledge is obtained of howthe sensors 15 relate to each other, and how system 10 and/or sensors 15should be operating anywhere in the building 25. As a non-limitingexample spatial relationship information of devices 12 is determined. Asa non-limiting example for the purpose of enabling the prediction ofactivity by a building occupant and the creation of spatial relations ofdevices, links 610 between switch terminals 12 in a building 25 and/or aspace in a building 25 are determined. As a non-limiting example theselinks 610 between switch terminals 12 are used to control spaces and orzones in a building 25, as well as detect anomalies. As a non-limitingexample anomalies can include but are not limited to: anomalies insensor outputs such as ambient or artificial light, movement by warmbodies, sound including but not limiting to falls, like falls, glassbreaking or utterances by people, electrical properties, in thedetection of presence of human beings and the like.

In this manner the building 25 is not programmed based on observation,by a set of actual building 25 plans, and the like. In one embodimentnot programmed is knowledge gained from the spatial relationships ofswitch terminals 12. As non-limiting examples not programmed means thatthe user has not provide explicit or implicit program to help structurethe systems operation and collection of inputs such as defining thespaces of a building 25, the relationships of one space to another, andthe like.

As a non-limiting example relationships of frequented spaces is abuilding 25 are determined relative to other spaces in the building 25,including but not limited to how relationships of frequented spacesrelate to other spaces. In one embodiment system 10 knows know how thesensors 15 relate to each other and what they should be doing anywherein a building 25 based on predictive behaviors of building occupants.

In one embodiment an optimization of environmental conditions in abuilding 25 is created in response to one or more building occupantswitch terminal parameters and the one or more sensors 15. As anon-limiting example environmental conditions include but are notlimited to: ambient light levels as provided by natural light, ambientlight levels as provided by artificial sources, temperature of differentspaces, sound levels of any sound emitting device including those offirst and second parties in building 25. As a non-limiting example thespatial relationship information can provide for greater information forsystem 10.

Knowledge of spatial relationships of switch terminals 12 relative toeach other can determine aspects of system 10 that can independent ofbuilding occupant actions. In one embodiment, the knowledge of spatialrelationship information relative to switch terminals 12 providesinformation relative to a building's functions, a building occupantactivities relative to building 25 and the like, (hereafter “Functionsand/or Activities”) including but not limited to: (i) sensor 15validity; (ii) which sensors 15 apply and should be used forinformation; (iii) what sensor 15 input to use; (iv) the number ofentrances into a room/space by one or more persons; (v) a person'sentrance or exit to and from a room/space; (vi) additional intelligencerelative to activity in a room/space; (vi) are devices co-located in thesame space; (vii) sensor 15 co-location; (viii) scores for collation ofsensors 15, and the like

The Functions and/or Activities also include the following: sleep,hanging out, change clothes, romantic time, nap/relax, watch TV beforesleep, play video games, shower, shower, wash hand, take a bath,shave/personal care, wash pets, watch TV at any time, have agathering/party, eat food, read a book, play video games, eat food withothers, gathering/chat, do it yourself project space, cooking, washingdishes/chores, getting something from the fridge, washing hands, makingcoffee/tea, getting snacks, putting things in the refrigerator aftergrocery shopping, eating/drinking if open kitchen, walk from front doorto inside house, walk from room to room, gathering/hangout, get somefresh air, get ready for day, choose what to wear, change clothes, putclothes/stuff in closet to be stored, finding objects or people,organizing, take things out, gaming if it's a game room TV), filing,take things out, park car, get in the car to go out, work for hours at atime, store documents, fill out forms, read a book, play video games,play board games, watch TV/movies, hang out with friends, lighting,temperature control, multi-media, security, window and door operations,air quality, or any other task of necessity or comfort performed by abuilding resident, with the rise of wireless computerization,remote-controlled devices can be smart just-in-time.

As a non-limiting example in response to one or more building occupantswitch terminal parameters and the one or more sensors 15 Functionsand/or Activities within a building 25 can be adjusted as a buildingoccupant passes by and through the building 25. This can be used tocreate a “smart or intelligent building”.

As a non-limiting example maps and/or links 610 of spatial relationshipsallows for the mapping of building occupants in a building 25 includingits spaces, for optimization and measurement that can include:anomalies, number of building occupants, activities in that space,predictions of future activities, and the link. In this matter anintelligent building is created for subsequent future actions that areutilized in the building 25.

As a non-limiting example system can determine as determine thefollowing: “Should system 10 light up c when a and b happens in responseto one or more building occupant switch terminal parameters and the oneor more sensors 15

System 10 knows the relationships of the switch terminals 12 in responseto one or more building occupant switch terminal parameters and the oneor more sensors 15

In one embodiment Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is used by switchterminals 12, sensors 15, and the like for advertising their identity,capabilities, and neighbors on an IEEE 802 local area network. Theprotocol is formally referred to by the IEEE as Station and Media AccessControl Connectivity Discovery specified in IEEE 802.1AB and IEEE802.3-2012 section 6 clause 79.

In one embodiment coded signals are sent through the building's wiring,and/or sent wirelessly, to switch terminals 12 that are programmed tooperate appliances and electronic devices in every part of the building25. It involves the control and automation of a building's Functionsand/or Activities

In one embodiment traffic prediction algorithms are used for thecreation of the spatial maps of zones of building 25. In one embodimentmethods are used that can be grouped into 4 major categories: (i)partitioning methods, (ii) hierarchical methods, (iii) overlappingmethods and (iv) ordination methods.

A plurality of building occupant scenarios at building 25 is simulated.In one embodiment two different clustering procedures are conducted:input-based clustering and output-based clustering. The input-basedclustering is presented as building occupant activity clustering. In oneembodiment output-based clustering uses the simulation output producedunder the building occupant activities.

For the number of clusters, a criterion for choosing a reasonable K isadopted by examining final within-cluster sum of squares (WCSS) values J(K) as follows:

$R = {\frac{{J(K)} - {J\left( {K + 1} \right)}}{J(K)} \times 100\%}$${J(K)} = {{\min\limits_{s}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{K}{D\left( S_{i} \right)}}} = {\min\limits_{s}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{K}{\sum\limits_{X_{n} \in S_{i}}{{X_{n} - \mu_{i}}}^{2}}}}}$$\mu = \frac{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{d_{i}t_{i}}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}d_{i}}$

As illustrated in FIGS. 21(a)-(e) in one embodiment switch terminal 12includes a front module 710, a radio module 712, a power module 714,locking mechanism 512 and a switch terminal back cover 716. The frontmodule 710 includes a back cover 718. In one embodiment the back cover718 is metal that can be utilized for improved wireless radio interface20, e.g. radio performance.

The front module includes a pivot 720 and interface 20 which can bedisplay 48, touchscreen 50 and the like, (hereafter “display screen 48”.Display screen 48 pivots and provides that a pivot is at switch terminal12. Display screen 48 allows a building occupant to interact with aswitch terminal 12. The pivot 720 absorbs a load created by potentialover application of force by a building occupant at switch 12. In oneembodiment the pivot 720 is a type of suspension. It can be clicked onby a building occupant and also go beyond it. In one embodiment thepivot 720 is a mechanical pivot and terminal switch 12 can be groundedthrough the pivot 720. As a non-limiting example all metal elements ofswitch terminal 12 need to be grounded for radio performance. In oneembodiment an element 722 is provided that causes the pivot to comeback. In one embodiment the element 722 is a flat spring 722. In oneembodiment the pivot 720 has a recess 724 that is s safety mechanismagainst damaging buttons 726 on a radio board 728 that is included inthe radio module 712.

In one embodiment the back cover 718 of front module 710 is metal thatcan be utilized for improved radio performance. In one embodiment theback cover 718 provides a thermal and RF shield for the processor 730 aswell as other components at the front module 710. The back cover 718 ispart of the radio and activates the tactile buttons.

In one embodiment front module 710 includes processor 730 with processorboard, memory and the one or more additional processor components 62including but not limited to CPUs, GPUs, and DSPs. In one embodiment oneor more additional platforms, provided by backend 17 and/or cloud 21,are loaded locally onto the computing device 14 for local execution.This can be used to achieve additional functionality including but notlimited to, matching learning, lighting related objectives, one or morenetworking technologies including but not limited to Wifi, Bluetooth,BLE and sub-GHz band; local and distributed protocols for establishing acommunication system or method 64 between first and third party devices18 or services with each other. As a non-limiting example a mesh network64 can be used.

In one embodiment display screen 48 includes one or more cutouts forspeaker 54, an ambient light sensor 15, motion detection sensor 15,which can be motion detection sensor 410, and a proximity sensor 15, aswell as any other sensors 15 that are typically located behind thedisplay screen 48. As a non-limiting example the motion detection sensor15 can be a Fresnel lens in order to increase the field of view ofmotion detection sensor 15. Fresnel lens can be a flat Fresnel lens. Inone embodiment a lens can be provided to provide for a 180 degree view.

In one embodiment a spacer 732 is provided for isolation so the heatdoes not go to processor 730. The spacer can be made of a suitable heatisolation material including but not limited to plastic and the like.

In one embodiment a back ring 734 is provided that serves as a heat sinkfor the mosfets that are for provided for dimming, which can be coupledto the power management system 32.

The metal of terminal switch 12 increases the RF signal exiting fromterminal switch 12 and out of a wall of building 25.

In one embodiment the radio module 712 includes the radio elements ofFIGS. 14 and 15 including but not limited to radio 20 and antenna 210. Ayoke 736 of switch terminal 12 is included that can be a ground piece ofmetal and insures ground on the outside of switch terminal 12 and aradio board 728. Mounted above the radio module 712 is the pivot 720with one or more pivot elements 740 that are in communication withtactile buttons 56. The elements press on the tactile buttons 56. Thetactile buttons 56 are at the radio board 728.

In one embodiment a cable 740, which can be a flex cable, is coupled tothe front module 710 and the radio board 728. LED 52, voice recognitioninterfaces 58. e.g. microphone, motion detection sensor 410, ambientlight sensor 15 and proximity sensor 15 are at the cable 740 thatconnects to radio board 728. Speaker 54 and tactile buttons 56 are atthe radio board 728.

The radio board 728 board includes antenna 210, which as previouslyrecited can be dual-band slot antenna 210. Antenna 210 is integratedand/or coupled to the electrical circuit 28, which as a non-limitingexample can be a printed circuit board 28, of the computing device 14which can include at least two radio circuits 218 and 220 to provide anetwork interface to switch terminal 12. The radio board 728 of radiomodule 712 is a structural mechanical piece as well as having a slotantenna and the two radio components, the diplexer circuit 222 thatallows the use of one antenna 210 for two radios 20, for radiopropagation, RF propagation, while switch terminal 12 is in a metaljunction box. All of the pieces of metal are ground and are part of theradio 20 performance and enhance radio, RF propagation. We then have thepower module all of the high power electronics, this is where the wireswhere the wall go in. It is the custom junction.

Power module 714 includes the elements of power management system 32 asprovided in FIG. 16.

Back module 715 is adjacent to power module 714 and includes lockingmechanism 512.

Switch terminal back cover 716 is adjacent to back module 715.

FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment where one or more switch terminals 12of a building 25 include a speech recognition system 800 for initiatingcommunication based on identifying a voice command. As non-limitingexamples speech recognition and an activity assistant, as more fullydescribed hereafter, can run in one of the following configurations:wake word detection on one or more switch terminals 12 withoutassistance of the Network system, e.g., Network System and recognitionof utterance in the cloud system 21; wake word detection and recognitionof utterance both in the cloud system 21; wake word recognition andlimited speech recognition on a device 18 without Network system withexpanded utterance recognition in the cloud system 21 if available; andcompletely on one or more devices 18 without the assistance of theNetwork system for both wake word recognition and utterance recognition.As non-limiting examples for all of the previous combination there canbe a plurality of recognizers and assistants simultaneously. First andthird parties can simultaneously operate at building 25 where at leasttwo of the available services are using a different configuration forwake word detection and utterance recognition in terms of itsutilization of a device 18 only or cloud system 21 assisted operation.

In one embodiment the commands are sent from switch terminal 12 to aserver, e.g., which can be a cloud system 21 server. In one embodimentswitch terminal 12 and server is in communication with a contact namedatabase 806 coupled to the cloud system 21 based server. In oneembodiment the server is coupled to an automatic speech recognizer (ASR)810, a parser 812, which can be at one or more switch terminals and/orparsing at cloud system by a first, second and/or third party, a rulesdatabase 814, and a communication engine 816. The server computingsystem 804 is in communication with switch terminal 12 over NetworkSystems. Any server discussed herein can be replaced by one or more of:computer 14, an individual switch terminal 12, a switch terminal system(multiple switches 12 working together), a combination of distributedmicrophones and speakers using one or more switch terminals 12 as acentral processing node for wake word detection, speech recognition,transference to the cloud system 21, and the like, for furtheroperation.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 receives one or more commands bythe building occupant, such as those set forth above.

In one embodiment the switch terminal 12 transmits audio data, e.g., thewaveform data 820, corresponds to the utterance 818 to the ASR 21610.For example, the switch terminal 12 provides audio data corresponding tothe utterance 818 of the information requested by the command to the ASR810 over Network System.

In some embodiments, the ASR 810 receives the audio data, e.g., thewaveform data 820, corresponding to the utterance 818 from the one ormore switch terminals 12. As a non-limiting example, the ASR 810receives the audio data corresponding to the utterance 818 of theinformation requested from the command.

In one embodiment, ASR 810 obtains a transcription of the utterance 818using a first language model. As a non-limiting example ASR 810processes the utterance 818 by applying the utterance 818 to a firstlanguage model 824 to generate a transcription 822 of the utterance 818.In one embodiment the first language model 824 is a “general” or“generic” language model trained on one or more natural languages, e.g.,the first language model 824 is not specific to the building occupant808, but is utilized by a general population of building occupantsaccessing the server computing system 804.

In one embodiment the ASR 810 applies the utterance 818 of theinformation from the requested command to the first language model 824to generate the transcription 822 of the command

In one embodiment the ASR 810 provides the transcription 822 to theparser 812. In one embodiment the parser 812 determines that thetranscription 822 of the utterance 818 probably includes a voicecommand.

In one embodiment the parser 812 uses the rules database 814 indetermining whether the transcription 822 of the utterance 818 includesa voice command, or is associated with a voice command. In oneembodiment the parser 812 compares some or all of the transcription 822of the utterance 818 to the rules of the rules database 814. In responseto comparing the transcription 822 of the utterance 118 to the rules ofthe rules database 814, the parser 812 determines whether thetranscription 822 of the utterance 818 satisfies at least one rule ofthe rules database 814, or matches a text pattern associated with arule.

In one embodiment, the server computing system 804 can transmit aportion of the received audio data to one or more switch terminals 12.As a non-limiting example the server computing system 804 extracts aportion of the received audio data as a waveform 826.

In one embodiment in response to receiving the indication 824 from theserver computing system 804, the switch terminal 12 applies arepresentation of the audio data corresponding to the utterance, e.g.,the waveform 826, to a different, second language model. In theillustrated example, in response to receiving the indication 824, theswitch terminal 12 applies the waveform 826 to the different, secondlanguage model to identify data 828 that references a contact. In oneembodiment switch terminal 12 applies the waveform 826 to the different,second language model to obtain a transcription of the utterance 818that corresponds to the waveform 826.

By applying the waveform 826 to a language model, the switch terminal 12identifies data 828 that references a contact that is associated withthe building occupant 808. As a non-limiting example switch terminal 12processes the waveform 826 according to the second, different languagemodel to identify the data 828 referencing a contact. As a non-limitingexample the switch terminal 12 is in communication with a contact namedatabase 806. The switch terminal 12 determines that the waveform 826“matches,” based on the different, second language model, at least oneof the contact names stored by the contact name database 806. As anon-limiting example the contact name database 806 stores mappingsbetween contact names and an output of the language model.

In one embodiment based on the transcription of the informationretrieved from the command that corresponds to the waveform 826, theswitch terminal 12 identifies a mapping stored by the contact namedatabase 806 between the transcription of a command and the data 828. Asa non-limiting example in the event of a command to call somebody thedata 828 of a phone number associated with that person is identified.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 transmits the data 828 referencingthe contact to the server 104, e.g., over Network Systems.

In one embodiment a server computing device 802, and specifically, theparser 812, receives the data 828 referencing the contact. As anon-limiting example the parser 812 receives the phone number that isassociated with the contact corresponding to building occupant'scommand.

In one embodiment the parser 812 causes the voice command to beperformed using the data 828 referencing the contact. As a non-limitingexample the parser 812 generates an instruction 830 that is transmittedto communication engine 816. The communication engine 816 causes thevoice command to be performed. As a non-limiting example the voicecommand is performed by switch terminal 12 the server computing system804, or a combination of both. In one embodiment the instruction isfurther based on a portion of a transcription 822 of the utterance 818and the data 828 referencing the contact.

Referring now to FIG. 23 a speech recognition system 910 receives verbalsearch terms from a command and uses a language model to access theupdated entries for the word and recognize the associated text. In oneembodiment a cloud system 21 based search server 908 retrieves therequested data relative to the information requested by the buildingoccupant based on the search terms that have been translated from verbalsearch terms to text, collects the search results 914, and transmits thesearch results, which as a non-limiting example can be one or moreswitch terminals. In one embodiment one or more switch terminals 12 canplay a voice, which can be synthesized, through an audio speaker thatspeaks the results to the building occupant.

In one embodiment one or more switch terminals 12, in FIG. 23, can havenetworking capabilities and is shown sending textual search terms(commands) 916 to the search server 908. The entered textual searchterms, which may include one or more portions of sound, can be added toan available dictionary terms for speech recognition system 910.

As a non-limiting example a probability value may be assigned to thecomplete terms or the portions of sound based on a chronological receiptof the terms or sounds by the search server 908 or number of times theterms are received by search server 908. Popular search terms may beassigned higher probabilities of occurrence and assigned more prominencefor a particular time period. In addition, the search may also returndata to the device 18 to update probabilities for the concurrence of thewords. In particular, other terms associated with a search can havetheir probabilities increased if the terms themselves already exist inthe dictionary. Also, they may be added to the dictionary when theyotherwise would not have been in the dictionary. Additionally, adictionary entry may be changed independently of the others and may haveseparate probabilities associated with the occurrence of each word.

As non-limiting examples speech recognition system 910 can utilizelanguage models (grammar) and acoustic models. In one embodimentlanguage models may be rule-based, statistical models, or both. As anon-limiting example a rule based language model has a set of explicitrules describing a limited set of word strings that a building occupantis likely to say in a defined context.

In one embodiment a statistical language model is utilized that is notlimited to a predefined set of word strings, and instead represents whatword strings occur in a more variable language setting. As anon-limiting example a search entry can be variable because any numberof words or phrases may be entered. As a non-limiting example astatistical model uses probabilities associated with the words andphrases to determine which words and phrases are more likely to havebeen spoken. The probabilities may be constructed using a training setof data to generate probabilities for word occurrence. The larger andmore representative the training data set, the more likely it willpredict new data, thereby providing more accurate recognition of verbalinput.

Language models may also assign categories, or meanings, to strings ofwords in order to simplify word recognition tasks. For example, alanguage model may use slot-filling to create a language model thatorganizes words into slots based on categories. The term “slot” refersto the specific category, or meaning, to which a term or phrase belongs.The system has a slot for each meaningful item of information andattempts to “fill” values from an inputted string of words into theslots. For example, in a travel application, slots could consist oforigin, destination, date or time. Incoming information that can beassociated with a particular slot could be put into that slot. Forexample, the slots may indicate that a destination and a date exist.

In one embodiment acoustic models represent the expected soundsassociated with the phonemes and words a recognition system mustidentify. A phoneme is the smallest unit a sound can be broken into,e.g., the sounds “d” and “t” in the words “bid” and “bit.” Acousticmodels can be used to transcribe uncaptioned video or to recognizespoken queries. It may be challenging to transcribe uncaptioned video orspoken queries because of the limitations of current acoustic models.For instance, this may be because new spoken words and phrases are notin the acoustic language model and also because of the challengingnature of broadcast speech (e.g., possible background music or sounds,spontaneous speech on wide-ranging topics).

Referring to FIG. 24 one embodiment of a search server 1001 using aspeech recognition system 1032 is shown to identify, update anddistribute information for a data entry dictionary according to oneimplementation. System 1000 can be one implementation of system 900shown in FIG. 23. In one embodiment system 1000 is implemented as partof a Network System search provider's general system. The system 1000can be equipped to obtain information about the occurrence andconcurrence of terms from various sources. In one embodiment system 1000also obtains information about the pronunciation of words and phonemes,which include one or more portions of sound, from verbal inputassociated with textual input. Both types of obtained information areused to generate dictionary information. Such sources could include, forexample, audio or transcript data received from a televisiontransmitter, data related to an individual (such as outgoing messagesstored in a Sent Items box), data entered verbally or textually into awireless communication device, or data about search terms enteredrecently by building occupants of a Network system search service.

The system 1000 can include an interface 1002 to allow communications ina variety of ways. In one embodiment interface 1001 can be switchinterface 20 or any other type of interface connected to system 10,including but not limited to one or more speakers or groups of speakers,display screen 48, speaker 54 and/or a speaker group 54, or a screen ofsome kind.

Commands and requests received from one or more switch terminals 12 maybe provided to request processor 1012 such as processor 730, which mayinterpret a request, associate it with predefined acceptable requests,and pass it on, such as in the form of a command to another component ofsearch server system 1000 to perform a particular action. As anon-limiting example, where the request includes a search request, therequest processor 1012 may cause a search engine 1014 to generate searchresults corresponding to the search request. In one embodiment searchengine 1014 can use data retrieval and search techniques like those usedby the Google PageRank™ system. The results generated by the searchengine client 1014 can be provided back to the original requester usinga response formatter 1016. The response formatter 1016 carries outnecessary formatting on the results.

An NPL engine, voice application intended to provide a response tointerpreted utterances, first, second and third party voice services anda search engine 1014 can use a number of other components for itsoperation. As a non-limiting example the search engine 1014 can refer toan index 1018 of web sites instead of searching the web sites themselveseach time a request is made, so as to make the searching much moreefficient.

The index 1018 can be populated using information collected andformatted by a web crawler 1020, which may continuously scan potentialinformation sources for changing information. Search engine 1014 mayalso use a synchronizer 1021 to ensure received data updates system 1000with the latest language model available.

In addition to search results, system 1000 can use the dictionarygenerator system 1044 to provide building occupants with updateddictionary information, which may include building occupant-specificinformation. As a non-limiting example updater system 1044 can operateby extracting relevant concurrence data or information from previoussearch terms, generating occurrence data for the information, andorganizing the information in a manner that can be transmitted to aremote device 18.

In one embodiment dictionary generator 1022 uses the components in FIG.24. As a non-limiting example this can include a training set 1024,weightings 1026, and a test set 1028. In one embodiment the training set1024 is a set of audio recordings and associated transcripts used togenerate pronunciation and sound entries in a pronunciation dictionary1072 and a phoneme dictionary 1070, respectively. Audio recordings canbe associated or synched with the associated transcript text using asynchronizer 1021, and the dictionary generator 1022 can createpreliminary dictionary entries based on the synchronized audiorecordings and transcripts. In one embodiment, the sounds that areextracted from an audio recording correspond to one or more letters fromthe transcript that is associated and synchronized with the audiorecording. The dictionary generator 1022 uses these extracted componentsto generate the dictionary entries.

In one embodiment, the weightings include factors, or coefficients, thatindicate when the voice recognition system 1000 received a wordassociated with the weightings. The factors can cause the voicerecognition system 1000 to favor words that were received more recentlyover words that were received in the past. As a non-limiting example thedictionary generator 1022 can access system storage 1030 as necessary.In one embodiment system storage 1030 can be one or more storagelocations for files needed to operate voice recognition system 1000.

In one embodiment speech recognition system 1000 uses an extractor toanalyze word counts 1042 from the entered search term(s) and an updater1044 with dictionary 1046 and grammar systems 1048 to access the currentspeech recognition model 1049. In one embodiment speech recognitionmodel 1049 can use a recognizer 1050 to interpret verbal search terms.

In one embodiment, the recognizer 1050 determines a context for theverbal search terms

In one embodiment illustrated in FIG. 25 exemplary steps are used foradding data to a speech recognition system. The chart shows anembodiment in which a system updates a statistical speech recognitionmodel based on building occupant entered terms. The building occupantentered terms may be accepted into the system as they are entered, orthe terms may already reside in system storage. At step 1102, searchterms may be received wirelessly or accessed from system storage. Thesearch terms may be textual input or verbal input. At step 1104, thebaseline speech recognition model is accessed to determine the existenceof the search terms in the current dictionary. In step 1106, the systemobtains information from previous search queries in an attempt to find amatch for the search terms entered. The system may determine to splitthe terms and continue analysis separately for each entered term or thesystem may determine multiple strings of terms belong together andcontinue to step 1107 with all terms intact.

In step 1107, four optional steps are introduced. Optional step 1108 mayassign a weighting value to the term(s) based on receipt time into thesystem. Optional step 1110 may modify existing dictionary occurrencedata based on the new information entered. Optional step 1112 may assigna sub-grammar to the new information. Optional step 1114 may modifyexisting dictionary concurrence data based on the new informationentered. One, all, or none of steps 1108, 1110, 1112 and 1114 could beexecuted.

Once the search terms have been analyzed for occurrence, existence andweightings, step 1116 verifies no further search terms remain. If moresearch terms exist, the process begins again in step 1102. If a certainnumber of search terms have not been received, the system continues toanalyze the entered search term(s). Alternatively, the system maycontinually update the dictionary entries.

The speech recognition system determines whether or not the data is averbal search term in step 1118 or a verbal system command in step 1120.

In one embodiment switch terminal 12 may receive the terms and transferthem to a speech recognition system. The speech recognition system maydecide this is a system command and associate the verbal command with atext command on the switch terminal 12 as shown in step 1120. In theexample above, the speech recognition system would allow a switchterminal 12 to make the phone call to “Cameron,” where the translatedverbal search term is associated with a telephone number, therebyexecuting the call command in step 1122. However, the speech recognitionsystem may determine the received verbal term is a search and attempt toassociate the verbal search term with a test search term as shown instep 1118. If the entry “call Cameron” is determined not to be a systemcommand, the speech recognition system attempts to match the term withusing dictionary entries derived from daily news broadcasts and textsearch terms.

In one embodiment once a textual term is associated with the spokenverbal search, the text term may be transmitted to the search server201. The search server 201 may generate search results using the textsearch term, and, the results are returned to the switch terminal 12 instep 1126. The system checks for additional verbal search terms in step1128. If no further system commands or search terms exist, theprocessing for the entered data ends.

In one embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 26, exemplary steps are utilizedfor adding data to a pronunciation model. The data for updating acousticmodels may include captioned video. The data may be used to updateacoustic models used for spoken search queries since new or currentwords previously not in the acoustic model are often provided from newcaptioned video broadcasts. The flow chart shows an embodiment in whicha system updates a pronunciation model based on received audio ortranscript information.

In step 1202, audio or transcript information is received wirelessly oraccessed from system storage, which can be one or more switch terminals12. The information may be textual input, audio input, video input, orany combination thereof. In step 1204, synchronizing the audio andtranscript information is performed. This ensures the audio information“matches” the associated transcript for the audio. Any piece of audioinformation or transcript information may be divided into training andtest data for the system. The training data is analyzed to generateprobability values for the acoustic model. As shown in step 1208, thisanalysis may include extracting letters to associate pronunciation ofwords. A weighting system is introduced to appropriately balance the newdata with the old data. In step 1210, the associations between lettersand pronunciations are weighted.

In step 1212, verification is performed on the test set to determine ifweightings optimize recognition accuracy on the test set. The system mayassociate several weights with the corresponding preliminary dictionaryentry in an attempt to maximize recognition accuracy when the dictionaryentries are accessed to interpret the test set of audio recordings. Thesystem then selects the weighting that optimizes recognition accuracy onthe test set. If the weightings optimize recognition accuracy on thetest set, a dictionary entry can be generated in step 1214. If theweights cannot optimize recognition, step 1210 is repeated. When adictionary term is generated, switch terminal 12 executes, in step 1216,operations to determine if more audio transcripts are available. If moreaudio or transcripts exist, the process returns to step 1202. If no moreaudio or transcript information is available, the process terminates.

For purposes of the present invention and “activity”, can be anythingdiscloses above, as well as a data construct describing a thing to do,which a building occupant can associate with a building occupant's“activity-assistant account.” In an example embodiment, an activity isdefined at least in part by one or more singular, global activityparameters. For example, global parameters for a given activity mayinclude: (a) a title or text description (e.g., “get brunch atBoogaloo's restaurant”), (b) data indicating the location that isassociated with the activity (e.g., the latitude/longitude and/or theaddress of Boogaloo's restaurant), (c) data indicating one or morebuilding occupant “moods” that may be indicative of the activity beingmore or less well-suited for a given building occupant (e.g., “fun”,“social”, “cerebral”, “productive”, “ambitious”, etc.), (d) dataindicating time constraints on the activity (e.g., the hours Boogaloo'srestaurant is open and/or the hours during which Boogaloo's restaurantserves brunch), and/or (e) any other data that may be directly orindirectly interpreted to affect the importance of a given activity to agiven building occupant. Further, an activity can be doable at multiplelocations (e.g., “Eat a hamburger” or “Go river rafting”).

Generally, an activity is a building occupant-defined construct, andthus the global parameters that define each activity may vary. Inparticular, a given activity may or may not include all of theabove-mentioned global activity parameters. For example, a buildingoccupant may create an activity that is not tied to any particularlocation (e.g., “do homework for math class”), and thus choose not toprovide a location. Furthermore, as activities are flexible and dynamicconstructs, it should be understood that the above-mentioned examples ofglobal parameters are not limiting. It is also possible that an activitymay be generated by a computing system without any initial buildingoccupant input (or alternatively, generated based on some buildingoccupant-provided input).

Once an activity is created, however, its global parameters apply to allbuilding occupants who add the activity. Thus, in effect, there is asingle copy of each activity and its global parameters that is commonall building occupants that have access to the activity. It should beunderstood, however, that global parameters can still be flexible anddynamic; changing over time in relation to the activity. For example, a“popularity” parameter may be defined for an activity that is updated onan ongoing basis to reflect the number of building occupants that haveadded the activity.

To further allow for customization of activities to a particularbuilding occupant, “building occupant-specific” parameters, which varybetween building occupants, may be defined for an activity. Accordingly,while the global parameters of an activity are the same for all buildingoccupants, each building occupant that adds an activity may customizetheir building occupant-specific parameters for the activity. Forinstance, building occupant-specific parameters may be used to specify:(a) plans regarding the activity (e.g., “I want to do it”, “I want to doit again, but not for a few weeks,” “I must do it before December 25,”“I never want to do it again,” etc.), (b) the building occupant'shistory regarding that scheme (e.g., I went there with Lauren onNovember 4 and again with Ryan on November 28), (c) personal timeconstraints based on building occupant preferences (e.g., preference ofbrunch early on Sunday so she has time to digest before her yoga classat noon or preference of brunch around noon because he usually stays outlate on the weekends), and/or (d) any other personal preferences relatedto, and “overrides” or modifications of, the global parameters (e.g., “Ilike to go to Boogaloo's restaurant when I'm depressed because it cheersme up,” “I like to go to Boogaloo's restaurant when I have friends intown,” etc.).

In a further aspect, an activity may be designated as a “public” or“private” activity. Depending on how a given activity is defined, thisdesignation may be made by setting a global parameter when the activityis created (and thus apply to all building occupants who add theactivity), and/or may be made via a building occupant-specific parameterthat is settable by each building occupant who adds an activity.

An activity that is designated as “public” via a global parameter may beviewable (and thus addable) to all building occupants, whereas anactivity that is designated as “private” via a global parameter may onlybe viewable to the creator of the activity. In an example embodiment, aglobal parameter may be set to designate an activity as a “privateshared” activity, in which case the activity may only be viewable by theauthor and the building occupants the author specifies. Further, thefact that a given activity is designated as “public,” “private,” or“private shared” via a global parameter may be interpreted as a signalrelevant to the importance of the activity to a certain buildingoccupant.

When an activity is designated as “private” via a buildingoccupant-specific parameter, other building occupants are generally notnotified that the building occupant has added the activity. And when anactivity is designated as “public” via a building occupant-specificparameter, other building occupants may be notified and/or is able tosee that the building occupant has added the activity. Further, when anactivity is designated as “public” via a building occupant-specificparameter, the building occupant may be able to define which otherbuilding occupants can view and/or which other building occupants shouldbe notified that they have added the activity.

In one example embodiment, an “activity assistant”, and/or activitysystem, is provided, which is configured to evaluate the relativeimportance of activities to a particular building occupant so thatactivities can be presented on the activity assistant building occupantinterface in a logical manner. In particular, the activity assistant mayscore an activity based not only on the characteristics of the activityitself, but also based on data that is indicative of the buildingoccupant's “context” (e.g., the building occupant's, interests, intents,moods, experiences, associations with other building occupants, etc.).With the support of the activity assistant, the activity assistantbuilding occupant interface may therefore provide building occupantswith a dynamic and flexible mechanism for deciding what activities theymight enjoy, and how they would like to spend their time.

In order to quantify the importance of a particular activity for aparticular building occupant, the activity assistant may identify and/ordetermine any number of “signals” that may be directly or indirectlyrelevant to the importance of an activity to the particular buildingoccupant. From the perspective of the activity assistant, signals maytake the form of information provided by global parameters and buildingoccupant-specific parameters taken individually or informationdetermined by evaluating interactions between global parameters,building occupant-specific parameters, and/or other data sources. Theactivity assistant may evaluate the signals for a particular buildingoccupant in combination with a particular activity, the activityassistant may quantify the importance of the particular activity for theparticular building occupant (e.g., by assigning a “score” to theactivity).

As non-limiting examples the signals may include but are not limited to:(a) the level of similarity between building occupant's mood andactivity mood, (b) the level of similarity between the buildingoccupant's context (as indicated by building occupant-specific signalsand/or building occupant-specific parameters indicating, for example,whether the building occupant is on a desktop computer/mobile phone,on-line/off-line, talking on the phone, driving, walking, etc.) andcorresponding activity context requirements and/or restrictions (asindicated by global parameters of the activity), (c) distance betweenbuilding occupant's location and activity location (if available), (d)appropriateness of current weather at building occupant's locationand/or activity's location for the activity (e.g., rainy, sunny, snowy,etc.), (e) building occupant-designated priority for the activity, (f)building occupant-designated due date (or next due date, if recurring),(f) snooze history or pattern for the activity, (g) amount of timerequired for the activity, (h) progress or status of the activity (done,active, in-progress, etc.), (i) ownership of the activity (e.g., whetherthe owner is the particular building occupant in question or anotherbuilding occupant), (j) whether the building occupant received aheads-up, (k) popularity of the activity (e.g., number of comments on anactivity, or the number of people who have commented, copied, liked,shared, done, or followed the activity), (l) similarity between buildingoccupant query string and activity text (for search/suggest), (m)similarity between building occupant query string and names or e-mailsof other building occupants in the activity (for search/suggest), (n)similarity between building occupant query string and activity commenttext (for search/suggest), and (o) whether the building occupantindicated another building occupant with whom to participate in theactivity with.

Supported with this intelligence from the activity assistant, theactivity assistant building occupant interface may present activitiesthat a particular building occupant has associated with their account ina logical order that is based at least in part upon the relativeimportance of the activities to the building occupant. In particular,the activity assistant may evaluate the signals for each activity in abuilding occupant's activity list (e.g., each activity that has beenadded by the building occupant) and assign a score to the activity. Theactivity assistant can then rank the activities in the buildingoccupant's activity list according to their respectively determinedscore, and relay this information to the activity assistant buildingoccupant interface so that it can adjust the displayed activity listaccordingly.

Further, the intelligence of the activity assistant may be utilized toprovide “suggested” activities that are tailored to the particularbuilding occupant's preferences, tendencies, location, time table,associated other building occupants, and/or mood at a given point intime. In particular, the activity assistant may initiate an activitysearch that takes into account the scores of activities when ranking thesearch results, and these search results may be presented to thebuilding occupant via the activity assistant building occupantinterface. In a similar manner, the activity assistant may support an“activity search” feature of the activity assistant building occupantinterface. This feature may allow the building occupant to enter textand initiate an activity search on the text, the results of which factorin the relative scores of activities as assessed by the activityassistant.

In some examples, when a certain available activity exceeds a certainrelevance threshold for a building occupant's current context, theactivity assistant sends a “push” notification (or “alert”) to a givenbuilding occupant's computing device 14 or a mobile device. By way ofexample, the building occupant has indicated that the building occupantneeds to buy a mother's day present via a given activity, the buildingoccupant is passing a location where this activity can be done, and thecurrent date is the day before mother's day. This example would utilizethe scoring function as in the above described activity list, but anactivity would have to pass a higher threshold in order to generate anotification.

According to an example embodiment, a building occupant interface isprovided that allows for intuitive building occupant interaction withsuch activities. This building occupant interface may be generallyreferred to herein as an “activity assistant building occupantinterface.” A building occupant typically accesses the activityassistant building occupant interface by logging in to a buildingoccupant's activity-assistant account. According to an exampleembodiment, the activity assistant building occupant interface displaysgraphical representations of activities to a building occupant in alogical manner that varies according to the interests, intents,associations with other building occupants, and moods of the buildingoccupant. Via the activity assistant building occupant interface, thebuilding occupant may view activities they have added to a personal“activity list,” view suggested activities, create and add newactivities to their activity list, and/or add/delete existing activities(e.g., those created by other building occupants) to/from their activitylist, among other functions.

Turning to the figures, FIG. 51 illustrates one embodiment of anactivity assistant network (“network”). In one embodiment network 1300,activity assistant server 1308 and possibly activity content server 1302are configured to communicate, via a network 1306, with client devices1304 a, 1304 b, and 1304 c. As shown in FIG. 51, client devices caninclude a personal computer 1304 a, a telephone 1304 b, and asmart-phone 1304 c. More generally, the client devices 1304 a, 1304 b,and 1304 c (or any additional client devices) can be any sort ofcomputing device, such as an ordinary laptop computer, desktop computer,network terminal, wireless communication device (e.g., a cell phone orsmart phone), and so on.

The network 1306 is Network System, as defined above, which cancorrespond to a local area network, a wide area network, a corporateintranet, the public Network system, combinations thereof, or any othertype of network(s) configured to provide communication between networkedcomputing devices. Activity content server 1302 can provide content toclient device 1304 a-3104 c and/or activity assistant server 1308. Thecontent can include, but is not limited to, web pages, hypertext,scripts, binary data such as compiled software, images, audio, and/orvideo. The content can include compressed and/or uncompressed contentand/or encrypted and/or unencrypted content. Other types of content arepossible as well.

In an alternative arrangement, activity assistant server 1308, one ormore computers 14 at one or more switch terminals, and activity contentserver 1302 can be co-located and/or combined as a common server.Further, it also possible that activity assistant server 1308 and/oractivity content server 1302 can be accessible via a network separatefrom the network 1306. Yet further, although FIG. 51 only shows threeclient devices, activity assistant server 1308 and/or activity contentserver 1302 can serve any number of client devices (from a single clientdevice to hundreds, thousands, or even more client devices).

Global activity database 1312 typically includes activity data thatdefines a plurality of activities. In particular, the activity data foreach activity may include one or more global activity parameters thatcollectively define the global context for the activity. Further,building occupant-account database 1310 may include data for buildingoccupants' activity accounts. This data may include, for a given one ofthe accounts, data indicating building occupant-specific parameters andsignals. Further, for a given activity account, the data may include anindication of which activities, if any, are associated with the account(e.g., the activities that a building occupant has added to theiractivity list).

According to an example embodiment, activity assistant server 1308embodies the “activity assistant” and thus is configured to provide theactivity-assistant functionality described herein. In particular,activity assistant server 1308 may be configured to identify signalsrelating to the importance of a particular activity to a particularbuilding occupant (e.g., relating to a given building occupant-activitypair), so that activities can be logically displayed to a buildingoccupant, suggested to a building occupant, and/or searched for abuilding occupant via an activity assistant building occupant interface.

In some embodiments, activity-assistant functionality described hereinmay also be performed by software on the device such as, but not limitedto, devices 1304 a, 1304 b, and 1304 c as shown in FIG. 27. For example,the client software running on the device such as, but not limited to,devices 1304 a, 1304 b, and 1304 c as shown in FIG. 27 may perform allor some portion of the ranking functionality and/or provide moreadvanced assistance, e.g. by providing a latitude/longitude and/or mapfor an address entered by the building occupant via an activityassistant building occupant interface and/or by directly communicatingwith an activity assistant processing system.

In one embodiment the signals come from system 10, including but notlimited to one or more switch terminals 12 as well as from elements notincluded in system 10. In one embodiment the activity assistant server1308 may acquire the data from which signals are determined, and/or datadirectly providing signals, from a number of different data sources. Forexample, activity content server 1302 may provide activity assistantserver 1308 with access to global activity database 1312 and buildingoccupant-account database 1310. Thus, when evaluating the importance ofa particular activity to a particular building occupant, activityassistant server 1308 may retrieve the global parameters of the activityfrom global activity database 1312, as well as buildingoccupant-specific parameters from building occupant-account database110.

As a non-limiting example, FIG. 28(a) is a block diagram of a computingdevice in accordance with an example embodiment. Computing device 1400can be configured to perform one or more functions of client devices1304 a, 1304 b, and 1304 c, activity assistant server 1308, and/oractivity content server 1302. The computing device 1400 can include abuilding occupant interface system 1401, a network-communicationinterface system 1402, and one or more processors 1403, and/or datastorage 1404, all of which can be linked together via a system bus,network, or other connection mechanism 1405. Data storage 1404 can be atone or more switch terminals 12, one or more devices 18, cloud system 21and the like.

The building occupant interface system 1401 can be operable to send datato and/or receive data from external building occupant input/outputdevices. For example, the building occupant interface system 1401 can beconfigured to send/receive data to/from building occupant input devicessuch as a keyboard, a keypad, a touch screen, a computer mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a microphone, and/or other similar devices, now knownor later developed. The building occupant interface system 1401 can alsobe configured to provide output to building occupant display devices,such as one or more cathode ray tubes (CRT), liquid crystal displays(LCD), light emitting diodes (LEDs), displays using digital lightprocessing (DLP) technology, printers, light bulbs, and/or other similardevices, now known or later developed. The building occupant interfacesystem 1401 can also be configured to receive audible input(s) via themicrophone (or similar audio input device) and/or generate audibleoutput(s), such as a speaker, speaker jack, audio output port, audiooutput device, earphones, and/or other similar devices, now known orlater developed.

The network-communications interface system 1402 can include one or morewireless interfaces 1407 and/or wireline interfaces 1408 that areconfigurable to communicate via Network System, such as the network 1306shown in FIG. 41. The wireless interfaces 1407 can include one or morewireless transceivers, such as a Bluetooth transceiver, a Wi-Fitransceiver perhaps operating in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard(e.g., 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g), and a WiMAX transceiver perhapsoperating in accordance with IEEE 802.16 standard, and/or other types ofwireless transceivers configurable to communicate via a wirelessnetwork. The wireline interfaces 1408 can include one or more wirelinetransceivers, such as an Ethernet transceiver, a Universal Serial Bus(USB) transceiver, or similar transceiver configurable to communicatevia a wire, a twisted pair of wires, a coaxial cable, an optical link, afiber-optic link, or other physical connection to a wireline network.

In some embodiments, the network communications interface system 1402can be configured to provide reliable, secured, compressed, and/orauthenticated communications. For each communication described herein,information for ensuring reliable communications (e.g., guaranteedmessage delivery) can be provided, perhaps as part of a message headerand/or footer (e.g., packet/message sequencing information,encapsulation header(s) and/or footer(s), size/time information, andtransmission verification information such as cyclic redundancy check(CRC) and/or parity check values). Communications can be compressed anddecompressed using one or more compression and/or decompressionalgorithms and/or protocols such as, but not limited to, one or morelossless data compression algorithms and/or one or more lossy datacompression algorithms. Communications can be made secure (e.g., beencoded or encrypted) and/or decrypted/decoded using one or morecryptographic protocols and/or algorithms, such as, but not limited to,DES, AES, RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and/or DSA. Other cryptographic protocolsand/or algorithms can be used as well or in addition to those listedherein to secure (and then decrypt/decode) communications.

The one or more processors 1403 can include one or more general purposeprocessors and/or one or more special purpose processors (e.g., digitalsignal processors, application specific integrated circuits, etc.). Theone or more processors 1403 can be configured to executecomputer-readable program instructions 1406 that are contained in thedata storage 1404 and/or other instructions as described herein.

The data storage 1404 can include one or more computer-readable storagemedia that can be read or accessed by at least one of the processors1403. The one or more computer-readable storage media can includevolatile and/or non-volatile storage components, such as optical,magnetic, organic or other memory or disc storage, which can beintegrated in whole or in part with at least one of the one or moreprocessors 1403. In some embodiments, the data storage 1404 can beimplemented using a single physical device (e.g., one optical, magnetic,organic or other memory or disc storage unit), while in otherembodiments, the data storage 1404 can be implemented using two or morephysical devices.

Computer-readable storage media associated with data storage 1404 and/orother computer-readable media described herein can also includenon-transitory computer-readable media such as computer-readable mediathat stores data for short periods of time like register memory,processor cache, and random access memory (RAM). Computer-readablestorage media associated with data storage 1404 and/or othercomputer-readable media described herein can also include non-transitorycomputer readable media that stores program code and/or data for longerperiods of time, such as secondary or persistent long term storage, likeread only memory (ROM), optical or magnetic disks, compact-disc readonly memory (CD-ROM), for example. Computer-readable storage mediaassociated with data storage 1404 and/or other computer-readable mediadescribed herein can also be any other volatile or non-volatile storagesystems. Computer-readable storage media associated with data storage1404 and/or other computer-readable media described herein can beconsidered computer readable storage media for example, or a tangiblestorage device.

The data storage 1404 can include computer-readable program instructions1406 and perhaps additional data. In some embodiments, the data storage1404 can additionally include storage required to perform at least partof the herein-described techniques, methods (e.g., methods 700 and 800),and/or at least part of the functionality of the herein-describeddevices and networks.

FIG. 28B depicts a network with computing clusters in accordance with anexample embodiment. In FIG. 28B, functions of activity assistant server108 and/or activity content server 1310 can be distributed among threecomputing clusters 1409 a, 1409 b, and 1408 c. The computing cluster1409 a can include one or more computing devices 1400 a, cluster storagearrays 1410 a, and cluster routers 1411 that can be included in system10, and a connected by local cluster network 1412 a. Similarly,computing cluster 1409 b can include one or more computing devices 1400b, cluster storage arrays 1410 b, and cluster routers 1411 b connectedby local cluster network 1412 b. Likewise, computing cluster 1409 c caninclude one or more computing devices 1400 c, cluster storage arrays1410 c, and cluster routers 1411 c connected by a local cluster network1412 c.

In some embodiments, each of computing clusters 1409 a, 1409 b, and 1409c can have an equal number of computing devices, an equal number ofcluster storage arrays, and an equal number of cluster routers. In otherembodiments, however, some or all of computing clusters 1409 a, 1409 b,and 1409 c can have different numbers of computing devices, differentnumbers of cluster storage arrays, and/or different numbers of clusterrouters. The number of computing devices, cluster storage arrays, andcluster routers in each computing cluster can depend on the computingtask or tasks assigned to each computing cluster.

In computing cluster 1409 a, for example, computing devices 1400 a canbe configured to perform various computing tasks of activity contentserver 1302. In one embodiment, the various functionalities of activitycontent server 1302 can be distributed among one or more of thecomputing devices 1400 a. For example, some of these computing devicescan be configured to provide part or all of a first set of content whilethe remaining computing devices can provide part or all of a second setof content. Still other computing devices of the computing cluster 1409a can be configured to communicate with activity assistant server 108.Computing devices 1400 b and 1400 c in computing clusters 1409 b and1409 c can be configured the same or similarly to the computing devices1400 a in computing cluster 1409 a.

As non-limiting examples, computing devices 1400 a, 1400 b, and 1400 ceach can be configured to perform different functions. For example,computing devices 1400 a and 1400 b can be configured to perform one ormore functions of activity content server 1302, and the computingdevices 1400 c can be configured to perform one or more functions ofactivity assistant server 1308.

As non-limiting examples, cluster storage arrays 1410 a, 1410 b, and1410 c of computing clusters 1409 a, 1409 b, and 1409 c can be datastorage arrays that include disk array controllers configured to manageread and write access to groups of hard disk drives. The disk arraycontrollers, alone or in conjunction with their respective computingdevices, can also be configured to manage backup or redundant copies ofthe data stored in the cluster storage arrays to protect against diskdrive or other cluster storage array failures and/or network failuresthat prevent one or more computing devices from accessing one or morecluster storage arrays.

Similar to the manner in which the functions of activity assistantserver 108 and/or activity content server 1302 can be distributed acrosscomputing devices 1400 a, 1400 b, and 1400 c of respective computingclusters 1409 a, 1409 b, and 1409 c, various active portions and/orbackup/redundant portions of these components can be distributed acrosscluster storage arrays 1410 a, 1410 b, and 1410 c. For example, somecluster storage arrays can be configured to store data for activityassistant server 1308, while other cluster storage arrays can store datafor activity content server 1302. Additionally, some cluster storagearrays can be configured to store backup versions of data stored inother cluster storage arrays.

In one embodiment the cluster routers 1411 a, 1411 b, and 1411 c in thecomputing clusters 1409 a, 1409 b, and 1409 c can include networkingequipment configured to provide internal and external communications forthe computing clusters. For example, the cluster routers 1411 a in thecomputing cluster 1409 a can include one or more Network systemswitching and/or routing devices configured to provide (i) local areanetwork communications between the computing devices 200 a and thecluster storage arrays 1401 a via the local cluster network 1412 a,and/or (ii) wide area network communications between the computingcluster 1409 a and the computing clusters 1409 b and 1409 c via the widearea network connection 1413 a to the network 1306. The cluster routers1411 b and 1411 c can include network equipment similar to the clusterrouters 1411 a, and the cluster routers 1411 b and 1411 c can performsimilar networking functions for the computing clusters 1409 b and 1409b that the cluster routers 1411 a perform for the computing cluster 1409a.

In some embodiments, computing tasks and stored data associated withactivity assistant server 108 and/or activity content server 1302 can bedistributed across the computing devices 1400 a, 1400 b, and 1400 cbased at least in part on the processing requirements for functions ofactivity assistant server 1308 and/or building occupant account server1302, the processing capabilities of the computing devices 1400 a, 1400b, and 1400 c, the latency of the local cluster networks 1412 a, 1412 b,and 1412 c and/or of the wide area network connections 1413 a, 1413 b,and 1413 c, and/or other factors that can contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency, and/or other design goals ofthe overall system architecture.

Additionally, the configuration of the cluster routers 1411 a, 1411 b,and 1411 c can be based at least in part on the data communicationrequirements of the computing devices and cluster storage arrays, thedata communications capabilities of the network equipment in the clusterrouters 1411 a, 1411 b, and 1411 c, the latency and throughput of thelocal cluster networks 1412 a, 1412 b, 1412 c, the latency, throughput,and cost of the wide area network connections 1413 a, 1413 b, and 1413c, and/or other factors that can contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency and/or other design goals of thesystem architecture.

FIG. 29A is a block diagram illustrating features of a building occupantinterface, according to an example embodiment that is with one or moreswitch terminals 12. In particular, activity-assistant building occupantinterface 1500 may be displayed via one or more switch terminals 12, andmay allow a building occupant to interact with an activity assistant.While only one screen of the activity-assistant building occupantinterface 1500 is shown, it should be understood that theactivity-assistant building occupant interface may include otherscreens, which provide additional functionality, without departing fromthe scope of the invention. As shown, activity-assistant buildingoccupant interface 1500 includes a personalized activity panel, anactivity feed that displays activities that have been added, done,and/or recently updated by friends of the building occupant (or membersof the building occupant's social graph and/or social network), asearch/add bar 1506, and a context panel. Further, context panelincludes a number of input mechanisms 1510 A-C via which a buildingoccupant can input context signals.

In one embodiment an auditory response of one or more switch terminals23 and/or system 10, interfaces or switch terminal system, displayscreen 48, interface 20, as well as context panel provides aninteractive mechanism for building occupants to provide context signaldata that describes a “building occupant context” (e.g. to providesignals indicative of the building occupant's intent, interest, mood,state-of-mind, experience, perception, associations with other buildingoccupants, etc.). In the illustrated example, input mechanism 1510A onthe left of context panel allows a building occupant to signal theirmood (e.g., “up for anything”, “lazy”, “productive”, “social”, etc.).The input mechanism 1510B in the center of context panel allows abuilding occupant to signal a location (e.g., “current location”,“home”, “work”, “stadium”, etc.). Further, input mechanism 1510C on theright of context panel allows a building occupant to signal a time ortimeframe (e.g., “now”, “tomorrow”, “tonight”, “next Wednesday morning”,“2:00 AM CST”, “9:00 PM EST on Saturday”, etc.). Other input mechanismsare possible as well.

While the context information provided via the input mechanisms of thecontext panel such as one or more switch terminals 12 may be referred toas “signals” from the building occupant, it should be understood that,programmatically, this information may take the form of buildingoccupant-specific parameters that are associated with the buildingoccupant's activity account. As such, the data provided via inputmechanisms 1510 A-C may be stored in a building occupant-accountdatabase. For example data from input mechanisms 1510 A-C may be storedas building occupant-specific parameters in building occupant-accountdatabase 110. It is also possible that activity assistant server 108 maybe fed data or may pull data directly from input mechanisms inreal-time.

The context signal data acquired from the context panel (e.g., buildingoccupant-specific parameters related to “building occupant context”) maybe combined by the activity assistant (e.g., activity-assistant server108 and/or activity content server 102) with global parameters of agiven activity, other building occupant-specific parameters, and/or datafrom other sources, in order to derive signals indicative ofactivity-importance of the given activity to the building occupant. Inthis context, the “signals” are the information relative to theimportance of the activity that is derived from the data (e.g., thebuilding occupant-specific parameters, global parameters, etc.). Assuch, the activity assistant may interpret a building occupant-parameteras a signal in and of itself.

For instance, the building occupant's mood (provided via input mechanism1510A) may be interpreted as a signal that makes any number ofactivities more or less important for the building occupant. As aspecific example, if the building occupant's mood is “lazy”, theactivity “watching a movie” may become more important than it otherwisewould be (as global parameters may indicate that “lazy” is a moodassociated with the “watching a movie” activity). On the other hand, theactivity “go to the gym” may become less important than it otherwisewould be (as global parameters of “watching a movie” do not typicallyinclude “lazy” as an associated mood, or may in fact indicate that“lazy” is a mood that is likely incompatible with this activity).

The activity assistant may also derive more complex signals byevaluating the relationships and/or interactions between buildingoccupant-specific parameters, global parameters, and/or other dataitems. To provide an example, a building occupant may have provided a“love being outdoors” signal, which may be stored in the buildingoccupant's account as a building occupant-specific parameter (note thata building occupant interface input mechanism not shown on the screen1500, but is contemplated as being available). At a given point in time,the building occupant also may have set their mood to “active” via inputmechanism 1510A, set their location to “current location” via inputmechanism 1510B, and set their time to “tomorrow afternoon”. Theactivity assistant may interpret this data as including a signal thatthe building occupant would like to do something active tomorrowafternoon at the same place they are currently located.

Further, the activity assistant may use other data sources to determineother relevant signals, such as the weather forecast for the next day atthe building occupant's current location or the location that thebuilding occupant will likely be at the next day. Tomorrow afternoon'sweather forecast may thus be a signal, which can be combined with thesignal derived from the building occupant-specific parameters to providea more-refined signal that, for example, outdoor fitness or sportingactivities near the building occupant's location should always befavored over indoor fitness or sporting activities near the buildingoccupant's location, unless the tomorrow afternoon's forecast is forrain, in which case the amount by which outdoor activities are favoredover indoor activities may be reduced (or indoor activities may actuallybe favored). For instance, combining all of this information, theactivity assistant may increase the importance of active outdooractivities (e.g., “go for a run”, “play flag football”, etc.) to agreater extent when the forecast is for sunny weather, than when theforecast is for rain or snow.

The activity assistant may apply signal-based techniques, such as thosedescribed herein, to assess activity-importance for a number ofactivities and the importance of these activities relative to oneanother. This technique may be employed to provide the building occupantwith various functions that are tailored to the building occupant'scontext.

For example, personalized activity panel 1502 may display intelligentlyselected and ordered activities from a pool of activities including theactivities a building occupant has added to their account and suggestedactivities that have been selected for a building occupant. For example,a number of suggested activities may be determined based on factors suchas building occupant preferences, signals from the context panel, andglobal parameters of potential activities, activities that have beenadded and/or done by friends of the building occupant, and/or activitiesthat have been added and/or done by the building occupant in the past,among others. These suggested activities may then be combined with theactivities a building occupant has already added to create a pool ofpotential activities for the personalized activity panel 1502. Then, todetermine which specific activities to display in personalized activitypanel 1502, the activity assistant may quantify the importance of eachactivity (e.g., by evaluating signals for each activity), so that theactivities that are most important to the building occupant aredisplayed.

Note that personalized activity panel 1502 that can be included insystem 10, switch terminals 12 and the like, may visually differentiatebetween activities that a building occupant has already added to theiraccount, and suggested activities. For example, the “Watch Movie”activity is displayed with a dark background and white text to indicatethat it is a suggested activity (and that the building occupant may thuswish to add it), whereas the other activities listed in personalizedactivity panel 1502 all have a white background with black text, thusindicating that the building occupant has already added theseactivities.

Further, the evaluation of importance may also be applied in the processof determining which activities should be displayed in the activity feed(and possibly the order in which those activities are displayed). Inparticular, a certain number of the most recently-added and updatedactivities may be evaluated based on signals such as those describedabove, and the most important of the recent activities may be displayed(possibly in the order of importance. Alternatively, it should beunderstood that activity feed may simply display activities in atime-wise manner as they are added/updated/completed, without adjustingbased on the building occupant's context. In a similar manner, searchresults (not shown) for an activity search via search/add bar 1506 maybe displayed based at least in part on importance of the activitieslocated in the search, or may simply be displayed in an order accordingto one of the many well-known search techniques.

FIG. 29B is another block diagram illustrating features of a buildingoccupant interface, according to an example embodiment. As anon-limiting example FIG. 29B illustrates an alternativeactivity-assistant building occupant interface, which may be displayedvia a client device once a building occupant has logged in to theiractivity-assistant account. Activity-assistant building occupantinterface includes some of the same UI elements as activity-assistantbuilding occupant interface of FIG. 29A (e.g., search/add bar 1506 andcontext panel including a number of input mechanisms 1510 A-C). In oneembodiment activity-assistant building occupant interface 1550, such asdisplay screen 54, interface 20 and the like, can include an activitylist and a suggested activity list.

In this embodiment, activity list may include only activities that abuilding occupant has added to their account. Thus, by evaluatingsignals for each activity a building occupant has added to theiraccount, the activity assistant can determine which activities should bedisplayed in activity list (and the order in which those activitiesshould be displayed).

Furthermore, suggested activity list may display only suggestedactivities (which have not yet been added by the building occupant.)Accordingly, the importance of specific activities may also be a factorin the process of determining which activities should be displayed inthe suggested activity list (and the order of those activities).

FIG. 30 is flow chart illustrating a method according to an exampleembodiment. In particular, method 1600 may be carried out by an activityassistant in order to facilitate dynamic and flexible and activities.For example, activity assistant server 108 and/or building occupantaccount server 1302 of FIG. 27 carries out a method such as method 1600to facilitate dynamic building occupant interaction with activities viaan interface such as the activity-assistant building occupant interfacesof FIGS. 29A and 29B in some embodiments.

More specifically, method 1600 involves the activity assistant accessinga building occupant-account database and retrieving the one or moreaccount-specific parameters of a selected building occupant account, asshown by block 1602. The activity assistant then selects a nextactivity, as shown by block 1604, and accesses a global activitydatabase to retrieve the global parameters of a selected activity, asshown by block 1606. Then, for the combination of the selected buildingoccupant account and the selected activity, the activity assistantdetermines one or more signals based at least in part on the globalparameters of the selected activity and the account-specific parametersof the selected building occupant account, as shown by block 1608. Alsoas shown by block 1608, each signal provides an indication as to theimportance of the selected activity to the selected building occupantaccount. Accordingly, the activity assistant can then use the determinedsignals as a basis for determining the importance of the selectedactivity for the selected building occupant, as shown by block 1610. Theactivity assistant then causes a graphical display to display one ormore of the selected activities in an arrangement that is based at leastin part on to the importance of the selected activities relevant to oneanother in some configurations.

With respect to any or all of the block diagrams and flow charts in thefigures as discussed herein, each block and/or communication mayrepresent a processing of information and/or a transmission ofinformation in accordance with example embodiments. Alternativeembodiments are included within the scope of these example embodiments.In these alternative embodiments, for example, functions described asblocks, transmissions, communications, requests, responses, and/ormessage may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed,including substantially concurrent or in reverse order, depending on thefunctionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocks and/or functionsmay be used with any of the ladder diagrams, scenarios, and flow chartsdiscussed herein, and these ladder diagrams, scenarios, and flow chartsmay be combined with one another, in part or in whole.

A block that represents a processing of information may correspond tocircuitry that can be configured to perform the specific logicalfunctions of a herein-described method or technique. Alternatively oradditionally, a block that represents a processing of information maycorrespond to a system, a segment, or a portion of program code(including related data). The program code may include one or moreinstructions executable by a processor for implementing specific logicalfunctions or actions in the method or technique. The program code and/orrelated data may be stored on any type of computer readable medium suchas a storage device including a disk or hard drive or other storagemedium.

The computer readable medium may also include non-transitory computerreadable media such as computer-readable media that stores data forshort periods of time like register memory, processor cache, and randomaccess memory (RAM). The computer readable media may also includenon-transitory computer readable media that stores program code and/ordata for longer periods of time, such as secondary or persistent longterm storage, like read only memory (ROM), optical or magnetic disks,compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. The computerreadable media may also be any other volatile or non-volatile storagesystems. A computer readable medium may be considered a computerreadable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

It should be understood that for situations in which the systems andmethods discussed herein collect personal information about buildingoccupants, the building occupants may be provided with an opportunity toopt in/out of programs or features that may collect personal information(e.g., information about a building occupant's preferences or a buildingoccupant's contributions to social content providers). In addition,certain data may be anonymized in one or more ways before it is storedor used, so that personally identifiable information is removed. Forexample, a building occupant's identity may be anonymized so that the nopersonally identifiable information can be determined for the buildingoccupant and so that any identified building occupant preferences orbuilding occupant interactions are generalized (for example, generalizedbased on building occupant demographics) rather than associated with aparticular building occupant.

Moreover, a block that represents one or more information transmissionsmay correspond to information transmissions between software and/orhardware systems in the same physical device. However, other informationtransmissions may be between software systems and/or hardware systems indifferent physical devices.

Referring to FIGS. 31 and 32 in one embodiment system 10 is configuredto be coupled with a sensing module 1700 at the building 25. Asnon-limiting examples the sensing module 1700 can be at one or moreswitch terminals 12 or not included in a switch terminal 12. The systemis coupled with a sensing module 1700 at the building, in response toauthorization by at least one building occupant that is authorized tomake modifications to the system 10 the sensing module 1700 isconfigured to monitor third party access to at least a portion of thebuilding.

As non-limiting examples, the sensing module 1700 is at least one of: anoptical sensor module, motion detection module, audio detection moduleor any other module capable of producing signals capable of derivingphysical presence of bodies in a space.

These sensing modules can then be paired with programs running onlocally the system 10, remotely in the cloud or in combination of thetwo, that allow an authorized occupant to define zones of a space, whichcould include one or more zones in that building that then may bedefined as authorized or unauthorized for occupancy by a party otherthan the primary occupants of a building in combination with the sensingmodule 1700 and the programs combine to create an interior zone controlsystem that is integrated into a switch terminal system 10, or a zonecontrol capable switch terminal system 10.

In one embodiment the sensing module 1700 provides one or more signalsto the interior zone control system that allows for those signals to beassessed and determined if the presence of a person in a controlled zoneis authorized or not. If a signal is detected in a zone that iscurrently not authorized for third party occupants, zone control cableswitch terminal system can send an alert to another system capable ofresponding to the unauthorized occupancy. One non-limiting embodiment ofa system capable of responding to the unauthorized occupancy is amonitoring company which in response to an unauthorized third access tothe building can alert the authorized occupants or a security providerincluding police enforcement. The monitoring company can be cloud based.Additionally the zone control capable switch terminal system 1700provide one or more responses at the building 15 itself.

As non-limiting examples: one or responses is sent from the sensingmodule 1700 at the building in response to an unauthorized third accessto the building; in response to the third party entering the building atleast one of: a response is sent, no response is response, an alarm isactivated, a building occupant is notified, and an ability is providedsomeone to talk through the device. In one embodiment the buildingsystems can respond by activating lights or locking doors.

As non-limiting examples the imaging module is selected from at leastone of: a camera 1712, an optical sensor, thermal camera and the like.

As non-limiting examples the imaging module is at least one of: one ormore switch terminals 12, external to a switch terminal 12; at aninterior of the building 25, at an exterior of building 25, and thelike.

In one embodiment the sensing module 1700 is configured to providecommunication with a communication device of a third party, includingbut not limited to a mobile device.

In one embodiment the sensing module 1700 is configured to define a safezone in which a third party is allowed access to the building 25. As anon-limiting example an area of the safe zone can be created by one ormore dwelling occupants or their designee. In one embodiment sensingmodule 1700 is coupled to and/or included in one or more switchterminals 12 or can be a device 18 in communication with one or moreswitch terminals.

In one embodiment the safe zone is delimited by one or more virtualfences 1714, 1716 and the like, which the occupant of the building 25can define, and in the event the one or more virtual fences 1714 and1716 are broken, different alerts can be activated, including but notlimited a local alarm, notification to the occupants mobile device,vocal warning, a communication with authorities, and the like.

In one embodiment the one or more virtual fences are multi-layer fencesthat can define multiple concentric zones. This allows for tracking ofthe occupant, a non-occupant that is granted access to the building 25by the occupant, including but not limited to a delivery person,housekeeper and the like. In one embodiment, the order in whichconcentric fences are broken allows tracking of a movement as eithertowards a door, or away from a door. As a non-limiting example breakingthe first fence 1714 can result in a vocal warning, while breakingsecond fence 1716 can result in an alarm being activated, and breaking athird fence can result in a call to authorities. As a non-limiting

In one embodiment a bridge is included at the building 25. In oneembodiment the third party access to the building 25 is multi-tiered. Inone embodiment the third party access to the building 25 is selectedfrom at least one of: only one time, multiple times, recurring times,set times, and changeable times. In one embodiment the third partyaccess to the building 25 is revocable.

As non-limiting examples the third party access to the building 25 isaccess for at least one of: maintenance of the building 25, delivery andthe pick-up of items to and from a building 25, services related tobuildings 25 and building occupants, craftspeople services, housekeepingservices, laundry and dry-cleaning, skilled laborers, unskilled laborersdelivery people, childcare, pet sitting, pet training, delivery ofpackages and other items from a delivery companies, and delivery ofhousehold items including groceries.

As non-limiting example the third party is selected from one or more of:an individual, an organization, one with more than a single person; acorporation, a DBA, partnership, an organization or corporation withmultiple layers of management, and multiple layers of providers.

In one embodiment the third party is at least one of a corporation, aDBA, and a partnership. As non-limiting examples the third party grantsbuilding 25 access to one or more individuals that performs for at leastone of: maintenance of the building 25, delivery and the pick-up ofitems to and from a building 25, services related to building 25 andbuilding occupants, craftspeople services, housekeeping services,laundry and dry-cleaning, skilled laborers, unskilled laborers deliverypeople, childcare, pet sitting, pet training, delivery of packages andother items from a delivery companies, and delivery of household itemsincluding groceries. As a non-limiting example the third party can grantaccess to the building 25 to one or more of its employees, contractorsand consultants.

In one embodiment a server, which can be cloud based, is configured toenables the occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user of the building 25to authorize third-party access to the building 25 without sharing theircredentials. In one embodiment the server is configured to allowgranting of building 25 access credentials to a third party securedaccess to a building 25 in a secure manner.

In one embodiment in response to a request by one or more buildingoccupants of the building access tokens are issued to the third-party bythe server with the approval of the occupant/or owner, or end-dwellinguser of the building 25. As a non-limiting example in response to arequest by the occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user of the building25 the access token provides access to a protected resource hosted bythe server.

In one embodiment building 25 access is granted to third parties for acertain time of day/night. As a non-limiting example building 25 accessis granted to third parties for a certain length of time.

Third party building 25 access can be provided to a service provider.The service provider can give building 25 access rights to a serviceprovider associate in selected circumstances and instances. In oneembodiment the building 25 access rights to the server provider aretemporary rights to an individual that are revocable by the serviceprovider or the occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user of the building25.

As a non-limiting example the sensing module 1700 is at or close to thebuilding 25 to monitor or record third party secured access to abuilding 25, including entering or exiting the building 25. In oneembodiment a date and time of the third party secured access to abuilding 25 is recorded.

In one embodiment the third party is an organization that sellsproducts, goods or services. In one embodiment the third party is anorganization that sells products, goods or services and providesdelivery of the products, goods or services to the building 25. In oneembodiment the organization grants access to the building 25 to one ormore of its employees, contractors and consultants for delivery of theproducts, goods or services.

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the claimed subjectmatter has been provided for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the claimedsubject matter to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art.Particularly, while the concept “component” is used in the embodimentsof the systems and methods described above, it will be evident that suchconcept can be interchangeably used with equivalent concepts such as,class, method, type, interface, module, object model, and other suitableconcepts. Embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestdescribe the principles of the invention and its practical application,thereby enabling others skilled in the relevant art to understand theclaimed subject matter, the various embodiments and with variousmodifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for using a first switch terminal of abuilding occupied by one or more building occupants, comprising: a firstswitch terminal positioned at a first location of the building; a firstcomputer system included as part of the first switch terminal at a firstlocation of the building; a first plurality of sensors included as partof the first switch terminal, at least a portion of the sensors providesignal data to the first computer system, the first computer systemproducing a command or data output that relates to at least one of: acommand output for a local control system, a command output for adifferent system, a data output for a different system, a command outputfor a non-local device or a data output that is a non-local device; asecond switch terminal that includes a second plurality of sensorscoupled to a second computer system, the second switch terminalpositioned at a second location of the building, coupled to andinteracting with the first switch terminal to coordinate theiroperations and provide that the second switch terminal supplementsinformation obtained from the first switch terminal; an interfaceincluded with the first switch terminal to receive a command input froma building occupant and serves as a point of interaction between thefirst computer system and the building occupant, the interface selectedfrom at least one of: touch, graphics, sound, position movement, voice,communication, wireless, and radio; and the first and second switchterminals allowing a building occupant to utilize the first or secondcomputer systems as a computer.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein thesensing module is at least one of: an optical module, motion detector,and audio module.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein one or responsesmore signals from the sensing module is received at a monitoring companyin response to an unauthorized third access to the building.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein one or responses is sent from the sensingmodule at the building in response to an unauthorized third access tothe building.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to the thirdparty entering the building at least one of: a response is sent, noresponse is response, an alarm is activated, a building occupant isnotified, and ability is provided someone to talk through the device. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the imaging module is a camera.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the imaging module is an op sensor.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the imaging module is at one or more switchterminals.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the imaging module isexternal to a switch terminal.
 10. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a bridge at the building.
 11. The system of claim 1, whereinthe third-party access to the building is multi-tiered.
 12. The systemof claim 1, wherein the third-party access to the building is selectedfrom at least one of: only one-time, multiple times, recurring times,set times, and changeable times.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein thethird-party access to the building is revocable.
 14. The system of claim1, wherein the third party access to the building is access for at leastone of: maintenance of the building, delivery and the pick-up of itemsto and from a building, services related to buildings and buildingoccupants, craftspeople services, housekeeping services, laundry anddry-cleaning, skilled laborers, unskilled laborers delivery people,childcare, pet sitting, pet training, delivery of packages and otheritems from a delivery companies, and delivery of household itemsincluding groceries.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the third partyis selected from one or more of: an individual, an organization, onewith more than a single person; a corporation, a DBA, partnership, anorganization or corporation with multiple layers of management, andmultiple layers of providers.
 16. The system of claim 1 wherein thethird party is at least one of a corporation, a DBA, and a partnership.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the third party grants buildingaccess to one or more individuals that performs for at least one of:maintenance of the building, delivery and the pick-up of items to andfrom a building, services related to buildings and building occupants,craftspeople services, housekeeping services, laundry and dry-cleaning,skilled laborers, unskilled laborers delivery people, childcare, petsitting, pet training, delivery of packages and other items from adelivery companies, and delivery of household items including groceries.18. The system of claim 16, wherein the third party can grant access tothe building to one or more of its employees, contractors andconsultants.
 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configuredto enables the occupant/or owner, or end-building user of the toauthorize third-party access to the dwelling via the intelligent doorlock system without sharing their credentials.
 20. The system of claim1, wherein the server is configured to allow granting of dwelling accesscredentials to a third party secured access to a dwelling in a securemanner.
 21. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to a request bythe occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user of the dwelling accesstokens are issued to the third-party by the server with the approval ofthe occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user of the dwelling.
 22. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein in response to a request by the occupant/orowner, or end-dwelling user of the dwelling the access token providesaccess to a protected resource hosted by the server.
 23. The system ofclaim 1, wherein dwelling access is granted to third parties for acertain time of day/night.
 24. The system of claim 1, wherein dwellingaccess is granted to third parties for a certain length of time.
 25. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein dwelling access is provided to a serviceprovider.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the service provider givesdwelling access rights to a service provider associate.
 27. The systemof claim 26, wherein the dwelling access rights to the server providerassociated are temporary rights to an individual that are revocable bythe service provider or the occupant/or owner, or end-dwelling user ofthe dwelling.
 28. The system of claim 1, wherein the imaging module isat or close to the dwelling to monitor or record a third party securedaccess to a dwelling, including entering or exiting the dwelling. 29.The system of claim 1, wherein a date and time of a third party securedaccess to a dwelling is recorded.
 30. The system of claim 1, wherein athird party is an organization that sells products, goods or services.